|
Date: |
|
Description: | Silver sword ring with a darkened surface and faint traces of stamped decoration made with a poorly applied triangular punch around the edges. On the upper face, between the punched ornament and the inner edge of the `ring' are traces of a second register of triangular punch. Incised `thunder' signs along median, with some suggestion of inlay or perhaps migration of iron oxide from hilt or blade. The surface of the ring is worn almost smooth, although there are few signs of wear on the inner edge of the ring where friction with the securing rivet would be expected.The function of sword rings is not fully understood, but they are found associated with pommels belonging to a group of mid-6th century Anglo-Saxon swords which have a predominantly Kentish distribution. These, together with a small number of Merovingian swords, are grouped as Menghin's Bifrons-Gilton type (W Menghin, Das Schwert im Frühen Mittelalter (1983), pp. 312-15). The ring swords are characterised by a pommel of high `cocked-hat' form to which the loose ring is secured by a modified, and frequently decorated, rivet that attaches the pommel to the upper guard. The pommels and rings within this group are without exception made of silver. The Bifrons-Gilton group of swords from Anglo-Saxon England as classified by Menghin are all cemetery finds from Kent, however the Lissington find, together with the discovery of a ring-sword pommel from Congham in Norfolk (Treasure Annual Report 1998-99, no. 59) has extended this distribution into the territory of the early Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles. Dimensions and metal content: Diameter: 17mm; weight: 7.77g. X-ray fluorescence analysis conducted at the British Museum indicate an approximate silver content of 94 per cent. | Publisher: | http://finds.org.uk | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Identifier: | http://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/r... | Go to resource |
|
More Like this...
-
Sword
Silver sword ring with a…
-
SWORD
Fragment of a gilded silver…
-
SWORD
Anglo-Saxon silver-gilt sword-ring, late 6th…
-
SWORD
Description: Part of a very…
-
Sword
Fragment of a gilded silver…
-
-
SWORD
CURATOR'S REPORTAn incomplete silver? Anglo-Saxon…
-
SWORD
An Early-Medieval silver-gilt sword-ring. c.…
-
SWORD
Fragment of a silver-gilt sword…
-
SWORD
Early Anglo-Saxon silver sword pommel.Surface…
|