Rights Holder: Somerset County Council
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Unique ID: SOM-F16B62
Object type certainty: Certain
Workflow
status: Awaiting validation
Roman cast copper alloy button and loop fastener similar to Wild class IX with a transverse toggle for the head. The loop is teardrop shaped in plan with a rounded outer edge the sides of which curve inwards then straightened to meet at a point at the base of the shank. It is circular in section. The outer edge has some large indents caused by corrosion. The shank rises at c.60 degrees to the loop and is also circular in section. The transverse bar making the 'button' is reminiscent of toggles with a circular section and thickened middle flanked by rounded knops at the end. The bar is 20.8mm long and 8.7mm in diameter at the centre. The loop is 13.8mm wide and the entire piece is 22.3mm long by 13.5mm thick, it weighs 8.86 grams.
Wild suggests class IX dates to c. AD 150-300 but suggests their loops are rectangular in section. There is a clear similarity in this piece to the late Iron Age to early Roman looped toggles and, in the form of the loop, to the Class I button and loop fasteners that immediately succeeded them. This interpretation (of a late Iron Age/early Roman date) is supported by SWYOR-6E5C30, a similar example form a hoard of metalwork dated c.100 BC to AD 100. See also IOW-D9EA47, NMS-79E456 and BH-E2B980.
Class: Wild class I / IX
Subsequent action after recording: Returned to finder
Broad period: ROMAN
Subperiod from: Early
Period from: IRON AGE
Period to: ROMAN
Date from: Exactly 100 BC
Date to: Circa AD 100
Quantity: 1
Length: 22.3 mm
Width: 20.8 mm
Thickness: 13.5 mm
Weight: 8.86 g
Date(s) of discovery: Tuesday 8th May 2012
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Other reference: SCC reciept 22067
Primary material: Copper alloy
Manufacture method: Cast
Completeness: Complete
Grid reference source: From a paper map
Unmasked grid reference accurate to a 100 metre square.
Author | Publication Year | Title | Publication Place | Publisher | Pages | Reference | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Wild, J.P. | 1970 | Button-and-loop fasteners in the Roman provinces | London | The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies |