BROOCH

Cast copper alloy Roman Aesica-variant brooch, P-shaped in profile, with three riveted knops in a line from the top of the head to the base of the bow. One knop survives on the top of the head, just in front of the wings; another has been placed in the centre of the cross of the bow; and the third has mostly corroded away on the upper face, at the base of the bow, but its rivet survives on the back of the bow. The left arm of the cross is now missing and the right arm is broken so that the full extent of the side projections is not known. Some patina survives on this central section and the sides and back of the bow. The bow then steps down to a flattened and slightly flanged foot plate, which is also corroded on all three of its edges so that its original shape is not known. The fantail foot is decorated with two triangular and two circular indentations, equally spaced apart and forming a scroll or double-trumpet pattern, which would have been enamelled to define a palmette shape in relief, similar to that of the St. Hilary 2 brooch (CORN-DEC722). The back of the wings have corroded to expose part of the hinge and pin, and the edge of the catchplate remains on the back of the foot plate. Hattatt (2000) illustrates a similar example of an Aesica type brooch on page 310, Fig.169, No.1477, which is dated to the 1st century AD. These brooches along with more recent discoveries from Cornwall have been identified by Justine Bayley as Cornish Type 31 and are published in Tyacke, Bayley and Butcher (2011) and this brooch is illustrated on page 143, Fig.11.1, No.4.