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Description: | An incomplete cast copper alloy book clasp dating to the Medieval period, c. 1350-1450. It consists of a D-shaped plate, which is plano-convex in cross-section and flat on the reverse, with two incomplete lugs extending from the straight edge, which would have held a separate hinge bar, now missing. At the centre of the plate is a perforation 2.8 mm in diameter. This would have fitted over a peg on the cover of the book. Projecting from the centre of the curved edge is a zoomorphic terminal with an incomplete perforation at its centre, with the whole running parallel to the outer face. Egan suggests this perforation may have held a cord to assist in the opening of the clasp (1998; 277-280).A horizontal ridge flanks the straight edge, and this is decorated with several lines of punched annulets. Further punched annulets in a linear arrangement fill the area from half way along the central perforation to the curved edge.The reverse is undecorated.For similar examples and a discussion of the type, see Egan 1998 (ibid). London examples have been found in contexts which date from the late 14th to early 15th century. For a close parallel recorded onto the PAS database, see HAMP-76CC32.
Original Image | Publisher: | http://finds.org.uk | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Identifier: | https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/ | Go to resource |
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