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Description: | A probable Middle or Late Anglo-Saxon hooked tag made from copper alloy. The tag has a flat, broadly circular plate with a round ended projecting lobe to one side and opposite it a separate hook. The projection has a slightly irregular outer edge which is bent backwards slightly and is pierced with a slightly off centre circular hole, for attaching the tag to clothing, made by drilling from both sides. The flat, oval end of the separate copper-alloy hook is attached to the back of the plate, probably by soldering. From this end it narrows to a shaft of thin, circular cross-section which projects beyond the main plate and ends in a worn break, before it would have hooked over. The main plate is decorated with punched annulets (open circles), one near the centre and five or six arranged in an irregular semi-circle around it. The outer annulets are close to the edge although they vary in how close. The gap in the semi-circle is towards the hook, although it is slightly off centre.It measures 14.9mm across the plate, 24.5mm long including the hook and projection, 1.2mm thick on the main plate and 2.1mm thick including the hook; it weighs 1.55 grams.Hooked tags appear to have been all-purpose fasteners, used to secure small bags or purses and also clothing. They occur in various forms from the late 7th century onwards, but those with projecting attachment lugs/lobes do not seem to have been used before the 9th century (Read 2008, 24). The shape of a circular plate with one pierced projecting tab is paralleled in other hooked tags of this period such as KENT-C30984 and SUSS-C5D1E3. The decoration is also of a common form on early-medieval examples but the separate hook is unusual and more common on post-medieval examples of dress hook.
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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