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Description: | An incomplete cast copper alloy Roman brooch, probably dating to the 1st-2nd century AD. The remains of the brooch consist of a portion of the head, all of the body, and most of the foot and catchplate; the spring, pin, and a portion of the brooch head are missing. The spring cover seems to be relatively flat and is slightly convex on the underside to support the spring. However, because the ends of the spring cover are very worn and broken it is possible the complete mechanism was semi-circular, or less likely, cylindrical. There is a central vertically-oriented set of upper and lower hooks which would have supported the coiled spring. Remains of the chord loop are difficult to discern, although there are two circular corrosion patches directly above the central hooks which may actually be filled with the corroded remnants of the spring chord. As the colour of the overall brooch metal is dark green and these patches are reddish brown, this could indicate a different metallic composition of the spring, chord, and pin. The brooch is decorated with vertical ribs running nearly half the length of the brooch body, where the brooch narrows noticeably to the foot. Similar vertical ribs decorate the spring cover. The catchplate on the back of the brooch is sub-triangular in shape and is undecorated and unperforated. It measures 33.3 mm long, 21.1 mm wide, 8.4 mm thick and weighs 5.52 grams.Because of the characteristics of the spring and pin mechanism, the brooch has been tentatively identified as a 'T-shaped' brooch, but could alternately be a type of Colchester derivative or Polden Hill derivative, dating to c. 1st-2nd century AD. Conservation to ascertain the nature of the possible chord attachment could help in the positive identification of this brooch. Cf. Hattatt 2007, Fig. 161, No. 907 and Hattatt 1987, Fig. 34, No. 901.
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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