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Description: | The object is formed from a silver penny of William I (1066-1087) which has been modified into a brooch or badge. The reverse has been gilded, and brooch fittings attached by four rivets arranged at the points of a rectangle. Parts of the fittings survive on the obverse face which has overspill of gilding at its circumference.The coin is a silver penny of the Sword type (1077-1080; North 846), issued by the moneyer Leofing of Winchester (Biddle et al. 2012, 392; ref. 1974).Obv: [+Þ]ILLEM REX [I]Rev: + LIFINC ON P[IN]CSIDie axis: 12 o'clockThe brooch is typical of a type of coin brooch which appears to have been particularly fashionable from the middle of the reign of Edward the Confessor (1042-1066) to some time in the reign of William I (1066-1087). While it is impossible to say exactly how soon after the coins were issued they were converted into brooches, it appears that this took place while each coin type was still current, which would mean no more than two or three years between the issue of the coin and the manufacture of the brooch, placing this example some time in the mid to late 1050s. At least twenty-one other examples are known, of which eighteen have been published. Dimensions: Dia.: 19 mm; weight: 1.53 g The Treasure status of objects of this type hinges on the fact that the coin has been converted into a brooch. A single coin would not normally be considered as Treasure, whereas a single brooch would be. Although the majority of the brooch fittings are lost, or have been removed, the gilding remains, as does part of the back-plate of the brooch fitting. It is therefore my view that this object should be viewed as a brooch rather than a coin.The brooch has not been subjected to metallurgical analysis, but coins of this period routinely have a high silver content, with even the basest examples normally being well in excess of 50%. This would be enhanced very slightly by the gilding. There is therefore no reason to doubt that the precious metal content of this brooch is well in excess of the 10% threshold specified by the Treasure Act (1996). Equally there is no doubt that the object, dating from the 11th century, is more than three hundred years old, while there is no surviving indication of the original ownership of the object. On all three counts, therefore, the brooch in my opinion represents a prima facie case of Treasure under the terms of the Treasure Act (1996), and should therefore be declared Treasure.
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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