EARLY MEDIEVAL BROOCH

900

Late Saxon tongue-shaped strap-end of Thomas' (2004) Class E Type 4, which has been converted into a plate brooch. The front is decorated in counter-relief with a pair of confronting Borre style animals, with details surviving in good condition, and there are slight traces of white-metal coating. Along the attachment edge there are five attachment holes, the central one probably original but much enlarged by wear (one other is blocked by ferrous material, which is probably not the remains of a rivet). The reverse is rebated for a missing bar. Below this, between deposits of ferrous material a rectangular blob of grey material is solder for a (missing) pin lug. Near the outside edge a catchplate secured by two copper alloy rivets has been carefully formed from two pieces of sheet butted together and rolled over. This type of strap-end is normally found in a fragmentary state. This piece shows that the reconstruction drawing in Thomas 2004 (fig. 4 no. 29) is incomplete. Length 58.5mm. Width 27.5mm. 10th century.Compare NMS-C179C1, a silver 10th-century strap-end with patches of solder on the reverse suggesting re-use as a brooch.