BROOCH

The head and bow of a copper alloy Trumpet style Roman brooch, dating to 1st and 2nd Centuries AD.

Approximately 50% of the brooch is present, and consists of the head, spring and most of the bow of the brooch. The foot, catch-plate and pin are missing, presumably lost in antiquity.

The head consists of a wide trumpet style head, plain apart from a ridge around the outside top edge of the head, highlighting the top of the brooch. The trumpet is flat along the base, and semi-circular around the top. A slightly off central ridge is present, running down the length of the trumpet head towards the bow.

The back of the head contains the remains of a coiled wire spring. 4 possible coils are just about visible in the spring. It is not possible to determine whether the pin would have been formed from an external chord or an internal chord. The spring is coiled around the remains of an iron pin, holding the spring in place.

The width of the brooch narrows coming from the head into the bow. The top of the bow is plain. The middle section of the bow has three ridges, with two recesses in between them. This section extends across the width of the bow. The lowest ridge is the most prominent, compared to the higher two. Below this panel, the bow is plain. The brooch narrows to a point, the right hand edge is original, however the left hand edge exhibits signs of damage. This point appears not to be original but the result of later damage.

The back of the bow is plain but highly polished. Towards the base of the bow, a small vertical ridge is present, this is probably the remains of the catch plate.

This brooch is similar to no. 439 in Hattatt, 2000 (pp.328).

The brooch measures 33.83mm in length, 13.57mm width (head end), 6.17mm (bow width), 10.52mm (head height), 4.56mm maximum thickness and 14.33mm in height.The brooch weighs 4.2 grams.

Reference:

Hattatt, R. 2000 A Visual Catalogue of Richard Hattatt's Ancient Brooches. Oxbow Books.