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Description: | A Roman copper-alloy devolved T-shaped brooch dating to the late first to second century AD, incomplete in so far as it is missing most of its pin. The head has two short cylindrical wings, 23.2mm wide, to hold the axis bar for the hinged pin. Between the wings is a slot in which the remnants of the pin are hinged. The pin has a pointed spur at its head to aid hinging. It narrows to a circular cross-section before an early break. What survives has been bent downwards towards the back of the bow on the right hand side (when viewed in plan from below). There is corrosion product on the underside of one of the wings and at the end of the other, demonstrating that axis bar is iron. The wings are undecorated other than a patch of tinning towards the end of one. Both ends of the wings are abraded. Emerging from the centre of the head is a large fixed headloop which has been broken through.The bow generally has a D-shaped cross-section with a flat back. It projects at c. 100 degrees from the head then curves round c. 80 degrees such that it is broadly in the same plane as the headloop. The bow narrows and thins gradually but consistently towards the leg. It is characterised on its upper surface by a deep central longitudinal groove of V-shaped cross-section; this is echoed by a grooved recess on the back. At each end of the groove on the upper surface is a moulded boss, sub-lozengiform in shape, and decorated with cross cutting/hatching. The upper boss is located at the point at which the bow curves through 80 degrees.The leg is continuous with the bow though bent up at the foot. A break at the foot has resulted in the loss of any footknob that there might have been. On the back of the foot is a solid sub-trapezoidal catch-plate with a groove below the fold. It has a web of c. 16.8mm.The brooch survives well with a brown patina. Further traces of tinning on the back just above the catch-plate suggest that the whole would have once been tinned. The brooch has suffered the damage already mentioned possibly at the same time as it was twisted, the bow and foot to the left when viewed from above.Bayley and Butler (2004, 167) suggest this type is mainly South Western in distribution and dates to the later first - early 2nd century AD (c. 75-175). They illustrate a similar example, T138, (ibid, 168) with a similar groove but not the bosses. The type is also discussed by Mackreth (2011, 98) for whom it is a Colchester derivative of type 16.a, and 'clearly a Somerset product'.
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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