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Description: | Gold dental implement. Sheet metal palette with the base of a single gold molar and six gold pins of diameter 1.4mm and length c.6mm for the attachment of false or second-hand teeth to serve as molars or premolars, with a further drilled hole for a lost pin, and tears at the front from the loss of incisors. This may have served to mount teeth retrieved from barber surgeons or graves - 'Waterloo Teeth' were collected from grave pits at many battlefields in Europe after the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815). Gold remained a favoured material for dental work until its replacement with synthetic materials such as Vulcanite in the 1930s. The circumstances in which this object was lost are puzzling, mainly with regard to why it was not retrieved immediately. Suggested date: Post-Medieval, 1800-1930.Length: 69mm, Width: 19.2mm, Thickness: 0.7mm, Weight: 13.09gms.
Original Image | Publisher: | http://finds.org.uk | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Identifier: | https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/ | Go to resource |
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