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Date: |
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Description: | Late early Medieval lead alloy brooch, 38mm in diameter, 2mm thick (5mm thick at boss) and weighing 14.30grams.The object is sub circular with six triangular protrusions forming an edge and giving the brooch a 'star' shape. It has a small central semi-spherical boss which is solid. This is contained within two circular borders formed of joining raised dots. Outside of this the decoration fills each triangular protrusion with the fore-mentioned border forming the lower edge. This decoration consists of a solid arch with a central raised dot inside, which is enclosed by a further two arches made up of joining dotted lines.The brooch has a decorative? circular hole in each triangular protrusion, placed so that it cuts through the outer two dotted borders. In addition this, the brooch has two circular holes, roughly made and placed either side of the central boss. This suggests that the brooch was re-used as a decorative mount of some sort.The reverse of the brooch has an integral semi-circular catch plate positioned near the edge. This corresponds to an integral roughly cast semi- circular (D sectioned loop with a rough hole) pin attachment on the opposite edge.This brooch has no exact parallel so far and there is some debate about its date. Whilst its shape is slightly similar to some medieval brooch forms, its decoration, and particularly its pin mechanism, are very similar to late Saxon brooches. We have 37 of these on the database and nearly all are circular with decoration very similar to this example, so it is plausible that this is a previously unrecorded variant of this type of brooch. It may be a slightly later brooch type as an item from the 11th Century Cheapside hoard, which also contains brooches of the same form as those mentioned above, has a lobed example but with different decoration. (Tessa Murdoch, 1991, Treasures and Trinkets Jewellery in London from pre-Roman times to the 1930s, Museum of London, pp. 155-6, Fig. 408)
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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