BOOK FITTING

An incomplete copper-alloy book clasp of medieval date, c.AD 1350-1450. The object is part of a two-piece book clasp with hinged plate and loop. The hinge bar is now missing, but the stubs survive.

The main plate is almost circular, or D-shaped. The surface is extremely worn but was decorated with with moulded linear decoration stamped with irregularly spaced annulets to the upper surface. It is difficult to see the annulets, but they survive best close to the bar. A central circular perforation is also present. A moulded stylised zoomorphic terminal extends from the rounded edge of the main plate, at right angles to the plate itself. The terminal has a circular perforation which runs transversely through the "mouth" of the beast. The reverse of the object is flat and undecorated.

Similar examples have been recorded on the PAS database including YORYM-2BBE37, BH-D895C7, ESS-E50B1B, DENO-0D92E8 and SWYOR-2DF84B and are also shown in Egan, G. (1998) The Medieval Household: Daily Living c.1150-c.1450 (Medieval Finds from Excavations in London), 277- 80.

This type of object had previously been identified as a form of strap end (Egan G. and Pritchard, F. (1991) Dress Accessories: Medieval finds from the Museum of London, 101-2 but intact examples on books have since been discovered (Howsam 2016).

They are often dated to the late 14th or early 15th century, but the stamped annulets on this type may suggest an earlier date, say late 12th or 13th century.