BROOCH

An incomplete cast copper alloy Colchester derivative Polden Hill (The Dolphin, flat wing ends type), Mackreth 2011, 4.a-4.b. Plate 46. It dates to the 1st/ 2nd century AD (length: 51mm; width at wings: 22mm; thickness at head: 16mm; weight: 15.10g).

The brooch has a highly arched head with oval/ crescent-shaped appendages to either side (a characteristic feature of the Polden Hill brooches). The short wings are semi-cylindrical with the remains of caps at either end holding the copper alloy axis bar in place. There is only a slight arch to the bow of the brooch and there is no decoration at all apart from a small corroded rib running across the width of the artefact just above the corroded foot.

Behind the head, there are the stumped and corroded remains of the rearward claw which still partly extends over the overhead chord. The chord also integrates into the coiled spring enclosed behind the wings which has twelve turns. In the centre of the spring, one of the runs extends outwards, which would have been the pin. However, the remains of the pin is broken just after it extends from the spring. Below the wings, there is a distinctive bulge (also another characteristic of the Polden Hill), but the back of the brooch has no decoration either and the catch plate is incomplete further down the back of the bow, just above the foot. Overall, the brooch is in a worn but fair condition. It is difficult to identify the patina of the brooch as it has been coated in a chemical material, but it appears to be dark green.

A similar plain example is illustrated in Richard Hattatt's 'Brooches of Antiquity', 1987, pages 98 & 101, ref no 898, found in Norfolk.