HORSE TRAPPING

Copper alloy ring of uncertain date though the angular section suggests Medieval 1200 - 1500 AD. These rings can be horse harness furniture rings or personal trappings like suspension loop/belt loops It is heavily worn within the band, and the smaller scale argues a distinct function, perhaps associated with costume or belt fittings. The probable hexagonal section bearing prominent file marks on both its sides and around its outer facets, running at right angles to each other

The ring shares similarities with one relating to the record for KENT-FC75D6 found in association with a number of Roman coins and artefacts. Ref. Finds From Aldborough, M.C. Bishop, Oxbow Monograph 65 1996, page 82-83 and page 81 fig. 44 no. 503-504 and Roman Buckles and Military Fittings, Andrew Appels & Stuart Laycock, Greenlight Publishing 2007, page 277.

However it is more similar to KENT-BF9FB4 on the portable antiquities database which has been assigned as probably 13th-20th Century and very similar to NLM-6A6276 ascribed to between 1200 and 1500 AD.

Ref. Gordon Bailey, Greenlight Publishing 2000, page 54-55 and History Beneath Our Feet, Brian Read, Anglia Publishing Ipswich 1995, page 69 No. 391 & 392. These types of rings are problematic as no thorough research is extent and they probably do not change much in form from the Roman to the Medieval periods.

The diameter is 32mm and the weight 4.31g.