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Description: | An incomplete cast copper alloy Jews harp, dating to the Post Medieval period, between AD 1550 ? 1800 (length: 64mm; width at arms: 14mm; diameter at head: 40.5mm; thickness at head: 6mm; weight: 26.2g). The Jews harp is oval in plan at the head with ?pincher? straight-sided arms as well as having a hexagonal section. The oval head (outer diameter: see above; inner diameter: 28mm; thickness: see above) has small traces of iron corrosion where a slight central restriction/ lip appears in the centre of the outside edge for the probable iron tongue, which is now missing. There is a slight kink to either side of the end of the rounded head, where the straight-sided arms (length of arms: 31mm) then protrude outwards to slightly incomplete pointed tips, with the arms slightly moving inwards to nearly touch each other at the end (width of arms near head [widest point]: see above; width of arms near terminal [narrowest point: 8mm]). The artefact is in a worn but fair condition with a patchy light green patina. Similar examples are illustrated in Bailey, G, 1993, ?Detector Finds 2?, pages 76-7, ref nos 4-6, which also date to the 18th century AD. Bailey states [page 76] that the jews harps were used as a small musical instrument although ?the iron strip which was twanged to create the sound has usually rusted away and sometimes the only evidence of its existence is in the form of a rusty mark at the bow section of the harp?.Most jews harps can be attributed to the 17th or 18th centuries although, more rarely, medieval examples do turn up?. | 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: | 1550
1800 | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Identifier: | http://www.finds.org.uk/database/artefac... | Language: | en-GB | Format: | text/html | Go to resource |
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