EARLY MEDIEVAL SLEEVE CLASP

475

Catch-piece from an early Anglo-Saxon wrist-clasp of Hines’s Form B20 (see note below), but not closely like any illustrated example. Basically rectangular, this is a very plain item 33mm long, cast in one piece with a shaped rear edge. The shaping takes the form of four projecting lugs, regularly spaced (approximately 4 mm apart) but of irregular length, varying between an outer lug 3mm long to an inner one 5 mm long. There are two circular sewing holes about 2mm in diameter. There is a single superficial groove running the length of the clasp which suggests a division into bar and plate; John Hines (below) has also identified a few transverse grooves across the bar which can be seen on the drawing. The centre of the front edge has a sub-rectangular projecting lug with a sub-circular hole, forming the catch or loop. The clasp-half has a gently curved cross-section.Professor Hines writes the following note: 'So far as I can see, the appropriate classification of the clasp-half will be as form B20: a cast plate and bar with a shaped rear edge. From one view (the top) you can see notches that are clearly intended to represent the moulded bar of the Class B clasps. If there is no thickening here in profile then strictly I suppose it might be classed as a plate alone and thus form B16, but I would regard that as a bit pedantic. In terms of its regular, if crudely executed, shape, I would see this as a much simplified copy of form B18d clasps, a type that in fact is found solely in East Anglia. In evolutionary/ typological terms, that's a perfectly acceptable relationship.' (communication to recorder, June 2004).