Rights Holder: Sussex Archaeological Society
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Unique ID: SUSS-ABB907
Object type certainty: Certain
Workflow
status: Published
Part of a cast copper alloy tap section of late medieval or early post-medieval date. The surviving part comprises an openwork handle at the top of a tapering cylindrical stem with central transverse perforation.
The handle is flat and has a central vertical bar ending in a projecting knop, separated by grooves from the rest of the handle and now with a curved edge. The sides of the handle are curved and step in half way down internally, before meeting the flat base; there are slight knops at the corners where the sides meet the flat base. This shape of handle is generally described as M-shaped or crown-shaped, as it has two arches and a central knop.
A rectangular tab links the base of the handle to the circular solid top of the stem of the tap. Below the top is the tapering, circular-sectioned stem, with an open base and a central circular perforation running straight through, to allow liquid to pass through the stem when the handle is turned.
It is 58.0mm tall, the handle is 27.8mm wide by 3.1mm thick, the stem is 18.3mm in diameter at the top and 15.4mm in diameter at the base; it weighs 26.17g.
A very similar handle is known from a late 14th-century context in London (Egan 1998, 242-3, no. 746). Egan comments that it may be intrusive (later than the context in which it was found) as the best parallels are from 15th- and 16th-century contexts across Europe.
Subsequent action after recording: Returned to finder
Broad period: MEDIEVAL
Subperiod from: Late
Period from: MEDIEVAL
Subperiod to: Early
Period to: POST MEDIEVAL
Date from: Circa AD 1450
Date to: Circa AD 1600
Quantity: 1
Length: 58 mm
Width: 27.8 mm
Thickness: 18.3 mm
Weight: 26.17 g
Date(s) of discovery: Monday 28th December 2009
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Grid reference source: GPS (from the finder)
Unmasked grid reference accurate to a 1 metre square.
No references cited so far.