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Silver hooked tag with circular plate, incomplete with hook and one attachment lug missing. Anglo-Saxon 10th century. The main plate is circular with an incised ring making a border and framing a cross of arcs with a large gilt domed stud in the centre. The arms of the cross are speckled and the background areas between each have incised a pair of leaves sitting on a semi-circle. Black niello inlay remains in some incised areas.
Hooked tags of this type with circular plates and projecting lugs are typical finds of the mid- to late Anglo-Saxon period and the ornament on this is a simplified version of the 10th-century Winchester style which typically has stylised foliage. The use of a cross motif is without parallel. This bold design using niello and a pecked texturing is typical of late Anglo-Saxon fine metalwork. Tags in silver and base metals were probably used in several ways, some of the larger and more robust hooks were on purses, while others were used on clothing, possibly garters and the lighter weights on veils.
Dimensions and metal content:
Plate diameter: 17mm; weight: 1.5g. X-ray fluorescence analysis at the British Museum indicated an approximate silver content of 96 per cent per cent.

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Created: Friday 11th July 2003
Updated: Thursday 24th February 2011