Image: Early medieval strip brooch (FindID 624690)

Description: An incomplete copper-alloy middle Anglo-Saxon lozengiform brooch made from a single strip of copper-alloy, which is expanded to form a lozenge-shaped plate in the centre but narrows to wire on either side of the plate. At the base of the plate the wire is simply curled round to form a hook which acts as a catchplate for the pin. At the top of the plate the wire is looped round on itself in a single loop to the right of the plate, forming a primitive spring. The wire is then bent back down along the length of the brooch to form the pin which is incomplete. The lozenge plate is decorated with a ring and dot motif consisting of a circumfrenetial boder and a central vertical and horizontal line forming a +. Naomi Payne is currently reporting on some examples recently excavated at Sedgeford in Norfolk. She notes "Middle Anglo-Saxon safety-pin brooches appear to be a type found mainly in the east of England. Hattatt published two examples (Visual Catalogue, fig. 140, nos. 1442 and 1385) from Norfolk but misattributed them to the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Excavations at Flixborough, Humberside, have produced nine, eight of which are similar and one almost identical. There is another parallel from Brandon, Suffolk (no. 5007). A further example from Gringley on the Hill, Nottinghamshire has been recorded on the Portable Antiquities Scheme database (reference SWYOR-B804D7)." Further examples on the PAS database now include GLO-8D5E03, SF7054, KENT1321 (no illustration) and NLM7136 (no illustration). Two have characteristic 8th-century animal art (HAMP-CEBED7 and NMS-829627). See also K. Leahy, The Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Lindsey, page 146, Fig 52. The brooch is 37.1mm in length, 14.9mm wide, 7.75mm thick and weighs 2.01 grams.
Title: Early medieval strip brooch
Credit: https://finds.org.uk/database/ajax/download/id/474409 Catalog: https://finds.org.uk/database/images/image/id/474409/recordtype/artefacts archive copy Artefact: https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/624690
Author: Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum, Richard Henry, 2014-06-26 11:50:35
Permission: Attribution-ShareAlike License version 4.0 (verified 2020-11-10)
Usage Terms: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0
License: CC BY-SA 4.0
License Link: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
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