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Description: | A cast copper alloy mounted book clasp. The clasp is composed of three components; a rectangular strap mount, an axis bar and a perforated clasp element. The rectangular strap mount component a rectangular sheet of copper alloy which has been folded over the axis bar has been narrowed slightly at the fold. The opposite terminals to the fold are abraded and both have an incomplete rivet hole. The strap mount has a mottled mid green patina which is abraded and incomplete. The axis bar has the strap mount folded over it and is secured to the clasp element by a hole in to parallel arms. The clasp component has two short parallel arms which support the axis bar. This protrude from and are integral to a substantive sub-oval form which has a large central circular aperture. This aperture would allow a stud which was fixed to the book to be inserted to hold the strap in place whilst the strap kept the book closed. Integral to the oval form, on the opposite edge to the arms there is a small decorative knop with a broken terminal which forms a '(' shape in profile. Originally this would have been a circular aperture and the knop would be pushed through a loop mounted on the book and a pin was passed through the terminal hole to secure the clasp. The upper surface of this component is slightly domed, the reverse is flat. This component has a dark grey abraded patina. It measures 32.21mm long, 10.55mm wide and 4.24mm thick. It weighs 3.9g. The clasp would have been used in conjunction with leather straps to keep books closed when not in use. Egan (Egan G. 1998 The Medieval Household Daily Living c. 1150-c.1450 Museum of London, London, The Stationary Office) illustrates similar clasps, for example No. 919, and comments that this clasp was found in contexts dating from c. 1350 to c. 1400. Ottaway and Rogers (Ottaway, P. and Rogers, N. 2002 Craft, Industry and Everyday Life: Finds From Medieval York York Archaeological Trust and CBA) illustrate similar sized clasps, Nos. 15236 and 14641 in particular, and these were found in late 14th to 15th century contexts. Ottaway and Rogers comment that these types of mounts are found on ecclesiastical and secular sites (2002, 2937) but these types may be more associated with books related to ecclesiastical business (2002, 2939) even when discovered on secular sites.
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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