BROOCH

Knotenfibel, complete except for part of the catchplate, part of the spring and the pin. The name Knotenfibel has no good English equivalent; it refers to a Late Iron Age one-piece brooch with a moulding on the bow derived from the returned foot of a La Tene II brooch. This example has two coils surviving of a large spring; the diameter of the wire making up the coils is 2 mm and the coils themselves are 10 mm in external diameter. Other Knotenfibeln with complete springs (e.g. Elmswell, Suffolk, sf281/3599) have two coils to either side of the pin. The break in the spring is old. The spring projects from the top of a circular-section bow which begins with a diameter of 6 mm, before narrowing slightly above the moulding. The whole of the bow is very corroded and it is difficult to see details of the moulding, but it appears to consist of a flat-topped 2 mm deep ridge running right round the circular-section bow, flanked by a similar narrower moulding above and below. Below this there is a rectangular-section (5 x 4 mm) panel about 4 mm deep, which is decorated with horizontal grooves which run right around the circumference. The bow below this is facetted frontally but rounded on the reverse; the angle on the front softens and rounds as the bow tapers until at the pointed foot it is oval in section (3 x 2 mm in the centre of the catchplate). On the reverse of the foot are the remains of a catchplate with ?triangular perforation. A rare type, usually found on the Continent but with a local parallel at Elmswell.