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Description: | A complete copper-alloy tumbrel consisting of two elements, a vertical element and a separately cast balance arm, which articulate in such a way that when the balance is not in use it can be folded flat. The object probably dates to the later medieval period.
The hollow-backed vertical element expands from a knob/acorn finial at the top, to a handle decorated with incised lines through to a slotted central section to a flattened foot with a slightly damaged and perhaps incomplete base.
The balance-arm survives completely. Its shaft is rounded and segmented by thin pairs of incised lines. The arm shaft flattens to form a square pan/tray, which would take a coin. The underside of the balance-arm's rectangular tray is decorated with simple parallel incised lines. The tail of the balance-arm does not taper as it approaches the fulcrum. The balance-arm is held in place by, and pivots upon, a copper-alloy pin which passes through the side of the vertical element of the tumbrel.
At present, the balance-arm is fixed in a folded position in the vertical element of the tumbrel, presumably due to corrosion at the fulcrum.
It is similar in its form and decoration to an example in the Ashmolean Museum (MacGregor 1985, no. 2), which appears to have been designed to balance pennies of 1.15g, a reduced weight current between 1351 and 1412. A 14th or 15th century date is therefore probable for this example. | Format: | text/html | License: | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ | Publisher: | The Portable Antiquities Scheme | Rights holder: | The Portable Antiquities Scheme | Subjects: | archaeology | Temporal: | 1300
1500 | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Creator: | Rob Collins | Identifier: | http://www.finds.org.uk/database/artefac... | Language: | en-GB | Format: | text/html | Go to resource |
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