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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 slightly wedge-shaped in cross-section and flat on the reverse, with two complete lugs extending from the straight edge and a recessed cylindrical strap bar. Slightly off-centre on the plate is a perforation 2.05 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 a worn perforation at its centre, with the hole running parallel to the outer face of the book clasp. Egan suggests this perforation may have held a cord to assist in the opening of the clasp and this seems to be supported by differential use-wear towards the outer edge of the hole, where the tension would have been at its maximum (1998; 277-280). The outer edge of the plate is lightly scalloped with three scallops at either side of the zoomorphic terminal and there is further decoration on the outer face of the plate with five irregularly spaced and positioned punched circles which, unlike the circular perforation on the plate, have not been punched through to the reverse. The reverse is undecorated. The object measures 24 mm long, 13.9 mm wide (at centre of plate), 2.77 mm thick (at centre of plate), 4.35 mm thick (at lugs and strap bar), 6.37 mm thick (at zoomorphic terminal); it weighs 4.58 grams.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 and SUSS-84D78C.
Original Image | Publisher: | http://finds.org.uk | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Identifier: | https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/ | Go to resource |
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