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Description: | An incomplete copper alloy hinged two-piece Colchester derivative (Dolphin) brooch of Roman date (43-150AD). The wings are complete and cylindrical. A longitudinal hole is present to take the axis bar. At the centre of the wings, on the reverse face is a vertical slit. This slit is filled by the remains of a single pin which is oval in shape (and presumably pierced so that they could be held by the axis bar). The pin is broken at the junction between the pin and axis bar. The bow head of the brooch is relatively flat although this may be due to distortion in the ground. More commonly these bows are hump-like, and slightly angular. The bow is angular in cross section being almost triangular with a prominent cast central ridge running along the apex of the bow. The bow tapers along its length to an abraded rounded point / foot. The catch plate on the reverse face of the bow is complete (although abraded). It expands from a central rib located beneath the bow of the brooch. This rib expands from a point ¾ along the length of the brooch. The outer edge of the catchplate is turned over to create a U shaped, slightly recessed, pin rest. The catch plate has however been severally distorted by movement. The brooch is decorated with a series of cast motifs. The two areas of decoration present are located on the bow and also the wing terminals. The bow is decorated with a cast sub-triangular ridge which has a series of notches along its length. The ends of the wings are each decorated with single circumferential.The brooch measures 44.2mm length, 23.6mm width across the wings, 7.3mm width across the bow and is 4.1mm thick also across the bow. It weighs 6.84 grams. The brooch is a dark mid green colour with an even polished but slightly abraded patina. This abrasion is probably caused by movement in the plough soil and has resulted in damage around the extremities of the brooch. The brooch has also been heavily distorted by movement flattening it. Similar hinged dolphin brooches can be seen in Richard Hattatt's Visual Guide to Ancient brooches pp 299 fig; 158: reference 20 and 21. Closer parallels can be seen in Crummy Colchester Report pp11-13 reference 58-60, and Bayley and Butcher "Roman brooches in Britain" p90 figure 70. A discussion in the Bayley volume on pin attachment can be seen on pp32-34, the style of pin attachment is classified as type 20:11
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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