MEDIEVAL BROOCH

1300

2006 T381 "A medieval brooch , the frame formed from a circular-sectioned hoop, its pin with a flattened edge and a wide rectangular collar. The pin was formerly attached to the frame by a loop attachment which is now broken. Undecorated brooches like this were produced in large numbers in the medieval period and occur frequently in base metal such as copper-alloy. They were manufactured in a wide range of sizes (for a miniature, base-metal example see British Museum MME1856,7-1,2752). Given their utilitarian aspect, it is likely that they were used as a practical fastening for clothes rather than purely for adornment. Several brooches of different sizes would have been used together to hold a garment in place. The brooch is silver and dates from the fourteenth or fifteenth centuries. J P Robinson Curator of Medieval Collections 12th October 2006" The brooch has been acquired by Craven Museum