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Description: | An incomplete Early-Medieval (Anglo-Saxon) cast copper-alloy disc brooch (c. 400-c. 600). The plate would have been circular in plan prior to the loss of material around the edges. The pin is missing. At the front there is a central punched ring-and-dot motif. It is surrounded by eight evenly spaced ring-and-dot motifs forming a border close to the broken edge. All these motifs are barely visible due to wear and corrosion. At the flat rear there are the remains of a single pin-lug and a catch-plate. Both are corroded and at one side of the lug there is a small deposit of iron corrosion. The front and rear of the brooch is largely covered with a dull matt khaki-green patina and there is some active bronze disease near the edges and on both faces. The front has tiny flecks of tinning. There is no evidence for burning or melting. There may have been more decoration that has been lost due to wear, corrosion or breaks. The breaks are old and abraded. 27.4 x 24.4 x 4.9mm. Weight: 5.75g. MacGregor and Bolick comment that: "Almost all the decoration found on these brooches is inscribed or stamped on the surface after casting; the only exceptions may be the broad concentric grooves found on a few brooches. Incised concentric circles and ring-and-dot motifs account for most of the patterns encountered, frequently complemented by concentric patterns of smaller punch marks - annulets, crescents (usually produced with an annulet stamp held at an angle), triangles, and V- or S-stamps. A central dot forms a common feature, no doubt representing the axis around which a scriber has been rotated; in some instances the dot is markedly deep and often the brooch is completely perforated at the centre. Not infrequently the periphery of the brooch is notched. Tinning is common on these brooches (especially the more highly-decorated examples), but gilding is not encountered, adding to the impression that they occupy a position complementary to that of the saucer and applied brooches of the more affluent sections of Saxon society...There are no obvious Continental prototypes for these brooches, which seem to have been an insular Anglo-Saxon development. As a whole the type tends to occur south of a line from the Severn to the Wash. Within this region the upper Thames Valley is particularly productive and may have formed a major production centre. The date range spans the fifth and sixth centuries (most of them occupying the median hundred years or so), with little evidence for formal development within that period" (MacGregor & Bolick 1993, 57).
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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