POST MEDIEVAL BODKIN

1600

Report on Post-Medieval silver head-dress pin of bodkin type from Great Shelford, Cambridgeshire.Fragment of a silver pin comprising bent shaft of tapering quadrangular form, broken at eye hole. Incised decoration around eye and inscription, apparently the number 270. Approx length 2.7 cm from tip to bend in shaft.Frequently reported through the Treasure Act, see for example Treasure Annual Report 2003, no. 252. Thought to have been brought from the Low Countries to England by immigrants, as similar pins are found in Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex, see S. Margeson, Norwich Households: The Medieval and Post-Medieval Finds from Norwich Survey Excavations, Anglian Archaeological Reports 58, 1993, p. 9. A pin is shown in use in a portrait of an elderly woman by Rembrandt, c.1640, recently sold at Sotheby’s, New York, 26 January 2006, see Apollo Magazine, January 2006, p. 89, fig. 3. 17th Century.Consequently, in terms of age and as the object contains a minimum of 10% precious metal it qualifies as Treasure under the stipulations of the Treasure Act 1996.