Rights Holder: Suffolk County Council
CC License:
Rights Holder: Suffolk County Council Archaeology Service
CC License:
Image use policy
Our images can be used under a CC
BY attribution licence (unless stated otherwise).
SLEEVE CLASP
Unique ID: SF-2C8C78
Object type certainty: Certain
Workflow
status: Awaiting validation
Catch-piece from an early Anglo-Saxon wrist-clasp of Hines’s Form B20 (see note below), but not closely like any illustrated example. Basically rectangular, this is a very plain item 33mm long, cast in one piece with a shaped rear edge. The shaping takes the form of four projecting lugs, regularly spaced (approximately 4
mm apart) but of irregular length, varying between an outer lug 3mm long to an inner one 5
mm long. There are two circular sewing holes about 2mm in diameter. There is a single superficial groove running the length of the clasp which suggests a division into bar and plate; John Hines (below) has also identified a few transverse grooves across the bar which can be seen on the drawing. The centre of the front edge has a sub-rectangular projecting lug with a sub-circular hole, forming the catch or loop. The clasp-half has a gently curved cross-section.
Professor Hines writes the following note: 'So far as I can see, the appropriate classification of the clasp-half will be as form B20: a cast plate and bar with a shaped rear edge. From one view (the top) you can see notches that are clearly intended to represent the moulded bar of the Class B clasps. If there is no thickening here in profile then strictly I suppose it might be classed as a plate alone and thus form B16, but I would regard that as a bit pedantic. In terms of its regular, if crudely executed, shape, I would see this as a much simplified copy of form B18d clasps, a type that in fact is found solely in East Anglia. In evolutionary/ typological terms, that's a perfectly acceptable relationship.' (communication to recorder, June 2004).
Class:
Hines's Form B20
Subsequent actions
Subsequent action after recording: Returned to finder
Chronology
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
Subperiod from: Early
Period from: EARLY MEDIEVAL
Date from: Circa AD 475
Date to: Circa AD 600
Dimensions and weight
Quantity: 1
Length: 33 mm
Width: 19.5 mm
Thickness: 2 mm
Weight: 5.2 g
Discovery dates
Date(s) of discovery:
Tuesday 1st June 2004
Personal details
This information is restricted for your access level.
Materials and construction
Primary material: Copper alloy
Manufacture method: Cast