The Portable Antiquities Scheme

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A silver-gilt hair ornament, used as a hair slide. The object is formed from three conjoined pieces of metal. The back plate is the largest and is formed from an openwork decoratively shaped central feature, joined to two pointed ovals, there are small rivet holes in the point of the pointed oval. The back plate terminates on either end with a trefoil. The back plate has a silver surface, but some parts of it have worn through showing that the back frame is hollow and not solid. The hallmark can clearly be seen on the central feature. The hallmark is divided into three rectangles. Firstly, P.P&G, secondly a passant lion facing left and thirdly the letter x. Geoff Egan (National Finds Adviser - Early Medieval to Post Medieval objects) has been able to trace this hallmark. It indicates that the hair slide was possibly manufactured in York, in 1834-5. The front surface of the back plate has been decorated with incised rocker-arm (hand drawn) markings. The rocker-arm can be seen around the edge of the two pointed oval shapes. The trefoil terminals are decorated with floral motifs. The second part of slide is formed from a simple rectangular strip of gilded silver, it has a chamfered reverse, with two rivet holes drilled into it. These sit inside the pointed oval shapes of the backplate. This strip has been soldered onto the back plate. It also has a trefoil terminal which sits inside the terminals of the back plate. These are heavily gilded and decorated with incised floral motifs. There are also some leaf motifs on the strip. Finally the third element to this hair slide is a figure-of-eight plate, which has been soldered on top of the backplate, holding the second element in place. It is simply formed from a flat piece of gilded silver. Some very fine rocker-arm has been used to decorate the front surface. The rivet holes on the reverse would have presumably housed the grip of the hair slide, as no method of attachment is otherwise evident.

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Created: Tuesday 19th October 2010
Updated: Tuesday 19th October 2010