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Description: | A largely complete hook-piece from a copper-alloy post-medieval book-clasp. It is sub-rectangular in shape, with a flared attachment end. At the opposite end is a curved hook (5.8mm wide) the tip of which has been lost. Below this the main body of the clasp is 14.5mm in width, flaring to a maximum of 20.7mm at the attachment end. At the attachment end the are four small triangular removals which help define its shape. Part of one of the terminal lobes (the left) is missing as a result of old damage. There are two off centre rivet holes near the attachment end and possibly a third with the stub of the rivet still in place near the hook end. The lower of the rivet holes near the attachment end is surrounded by three concentric incised circles, the third faint and incomplete. There is possibly a row of parallel incised lines, the ends stepped into a triangle, below this rivet hole and another stepped row forming a pheon near the hook but corrosion makes it hard to distinguish delibertely incised lines from damage and folds.Book-claps bearing similar decorative motifs (punched ring and dot, the incised 'pheons') can be found illustrated in Crummy (1998, 68). These examples are given a 17th-century date although some similar book clasps are thought to be c.1550-1750 in date. This artefact has a dark red-brown colour. It is 57.2mm long, 0.7mm thick and weighs 4.30 grams.
Original Image | Publisher: | http://finds.org.uk | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Identifier: | http://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/r... | Go to resource |
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