Rights Holder: St. Albans District Council
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Unique ID: BH-2958FF
Object type certainty: Certain
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status: Published
A Roman copper-alloy umbonate disc brooch.
The domed central area of the brooch is decorated with two concentric rings of inward-pointing triangular cells, both filled with an alternating pattern of blue and either red or orange insets. The inner ring of settings surrounds a circular depression. A rim with inner groove extends around the circumference. A cruciform arrangement of right-angled lugs projects outwards from this rim, the wider upper lug perforated to form the now-damaged chain loop. The two lugs of the hinge project backwards from behind this chain loop, an axis bar holding in place the copper-alloy pin, which is missing its point. The right-angled catchplate is located behind the basal lug.
Height: 32.5mm; width: 27.3mm; depth: 10.8mm. Weight: 5.63g.
Two parallels for this brooch were found at Richborough (Bayley and Butcher 2004: fig. 99, nos. 382 and 383). The Richborough brooches were dated to the 1st century AD, based on the discovery of a parallel at Wroxeter, which was found with coins of Vespasian. The authors also cite as dating evidence the presence of umbonate disc brooches in Scottish forts occupied during the advance of Agricola in the late 1st century, and their absence from early 2nd century sites on Hadrian's Wall (ibid. 173). The generally accepted date range for these brooches, however, is 2nd to mid 3rd century AD.
Class: Umbonate disc
Subsequent action after recording: Returned to finder
Broad period: ROMAN
Period from: ROMAN
Date from: Circa AD 50
Date to: Circa AD 250
Quantity: 1
Height: 32.5 mm
Width: 27.3 mm
Weight: 5.63 g
Date(s) of discovery: Sunday 27th April 2014
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Other reference: Ver 14/83 - 1
Primary material: Copper alloy
Completeness: Complete
Surface Treatment: Inlaid with enamel
Grid reference source: Generated from computer mapping software
Unmasked grid reference accurate to a 10 metre square.
Author | Publication Year | Title | Publication Place | Publisher | Pages | Reference | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bayley, J. and Butcher, S. | 2004 | Roman Brooches in Britain: A Technological and Typological Study Based on the Richborough Collection | London | The Society of Antiquaries |