EARLY MEDIEVAL HOOKED TAG

1000

Description: Middle to Late Anglo-Saxon silver hooked tag with twin rounded and pierced attachment lugs above a sub-triangular plate (apex downwards, corners rounded). Engraved lines followed by very fine pecking (repeated linear tapping or punching, or rocking an engraving tool) surround the attachment holes and link their bases. Similar lines, one curved below two oblique lines set symmetrically, decorate the plate. The plate tapers evenly into the sharp hook, which survives intact. The reverse is undecorated.Dimensions: 19 x 10.5mm. Thickness 0.5mm. Weight 0.66g.Discussion and Date: The plate is an unusual shape; most triangular plates have the attachment holes within the triangle rather than in these large rounded lobes. Compare NMS-CF0BB4 for another example, also from Norfolk. The engraving technique is found most commonly on 11th-century items; compare silver hooked tags WILT-53C776 and SF4140, copper-alloy hooked tag SF-D18A63 and stirrup terminal SF7017. It is therefore likely that this hooked tag is 11th-century, although an earlier date (back to the 8th century) cannot be ruled out.