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Description: | A complete, but worn, cast copper-alloy ring-key of Roman date. It has a a D-shaped hoop that is D-shaped in section with square shoulders that have triangular notches on their upper surfaces at the join of hoop and shoulder. The front edge of the hoop between the shoulders is flattened and rectangular in form with double transverse parallel grooves on its front and bottom edges. At the centre of the front edge is an integrally cast and flattened T-shaped bezel that projects vertically and appears to form a ward from a key, indicating the object's use as a ring-key. Active green copper-alloy corrosion is visible in places on both hoop and bezel/ward, and in places the exterior surfaces have suffered from extensive wear or abrasion resulting in exposure of the gold coloured copper-alloy beneath the dark brown patina. It measures 22.53mm in width, 20.64mm in length (from bezel to back of hoop), 3.99mm in height at shoulder, 8.37mm in height at bezel, 3.02mm in thickness at bezel, and weighs 3.79g.The presence of a flattened bezel projecting vertically and in the form of a key ward suggests that this is a Roman ring-key similar to examples noted from Colchester (Crummy, 1983: nos. 2163, 2168). Crummy suggests that these examples with flattened ward may be early in the Roman period while the more typical examples with rotary keys are later in the 3rd and 4th centuries AD (Crummy, 1983: pp. 84). This indicates a Roman date for the current example, possibly in the 1st-3rd centuries AD or a little later.
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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