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Description: | Description: A silver Anglo-Saxon strap-end. a variant of Thomas' Class A, Type 1. The strap-end is flat and oval, with a pointed terminal and rounded corners at the attachment end. The attachment end is split to take the strap, with two circular rivet holes visible on front and reverse. The normal 'fan-shaped' field is missing below the rivet holes. The outer edge of the entire front face is left as a plain, undecorated circumferential border, which is thicker at the attachment end where it is shaped around the two rivet holes. The broadly pointed tip of the strap end thickens (from 1.20mm thick to 2.10 mm thick) but the normal zoomorphic terminal is not present, leaving only one field of decoration.This field has a design consisting of two identical, intertwined zoomorphic beasts (c. 22.25mm in length),shown in side view facing away from the centre of the design. The neck, the tail and wings are intertwined. An open jaw is shown on both beasts and both have a circular recess for the eye. Both of the beasts also have a single rounded ear each, with the one on the left side of the design having a more pronounced and rounded brow. The visible wing from each of the zoomorphic beasts is engraved in the centre with two longitudinal lines. Each end of the wing is also formed into a scroll which ends in a rounded pellet. The two tails also end in this way. There are no recognisable legs on either of the beasts.Underneath the attachment end, where the design begins, there is a large irregular dot between and below the two rivet holes; this design feature is repeated between the two tails of the zoomorphic beasts. The zoomorphic representations are reserved against an engraved background; the recesses from carving would probably originally have been filled with niello, with possible traces remaining; the base of the engraving is keyed to hold any niello in place. This may also explain the use of the irregular dots, so less niello was needed and it adhered better to the background. The two beasts have the general appearance of Trewhiddle-style animals, although they have few of the detailed characteristics of the style.The reverse is flat and undecorated.Dimensions: The strap end is 33.70mm in length, 13.15mm wide, 2.10mm max thick with a weight of 3.71gDiscussion: This strap-end is similar to many examples of Thomas's Class A, Type 1, although this example is lacking the typical zoomorphic terminal. There are, however, other non-standard strap-ends of this type known (e.g. BH-EB9324). Other examples of interlaced animals facing away from the centre of the design on Class A, Type 1 strap-ends include SF-A66946, NLM-03C536 and SOM-BCEDC8.Date: The strap end is of Thomas' Class A, Type 1 and the decoration is in Trewhiddle style, both of which broadly date to the 9th century AD.Consequently, in terms of age and precious metal content, the object qualifies as Treasure under the stipulations of the Treasure Act 1996Deposition: Salisbury museum have declared an interestG. Thomas (2003, p.7) 'Late Anglo-Saxon and Viking-Age strap-ends 750-1100: Part 1,' The Finds Research Group - Datasheet 32Eleanor Skipper, Wiltshire placementRichard Henry, Finds Liaison Officer (Wiltshire)
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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