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BROOCH
Unique ID: LIN-FA49B4
Object type certainty: Certain
Workflow
status: Published 
An incomplete silver Birdlip type brooch dating to the late Iron Age or early Roman period. The brooch has a trumpet-shaped head with an integral spring behind with three turns remaining. The spring has an internal chord. The pin is missing. The bow is comma shaped in profile and is decorated with a fully rounded and collared reel at the top. Below the reel is a small upturned 'beak'. The bow below the beak is triangular in cross-section and tapers to the foot. The foot is missing, as is most of the catchplate. The catchplate splits from the bow towards the base.
Treasure reference number 2011 T518.
This brooch is a silver version of a birdlip or beaked bow brooch. Similar brooches made from bronze and very rarely silver and gold are known in small numbers across central England. They probably date to the late 1st century BC and early to middle 1st Century AD (c.30BC-AD50). Several have been found in closely dateable contexts during archaeological excavations such as Dragonby in Lincolnshire and Kingsholm in Gloucestershire. Although a late Iron Age type of brooch, they were probably still worn for a short time after the Roman Conquest. The most well known silver brooch of this type is the example in bronze from the Birdlip burial in Glouctershire. A gilded silver brooch of this type was found at Dragonby in Lincolnshire, part of another has been found at the East Leicestershire late Iron Age coin hoard site. Gold examples from Lincolnshire come from Market Rasen and Normaby le Wold.
Class: Birdlip
Subsequent actions
Current location of find: The Collection, Lincoln
Subsequent action after recording: Donated to museum after being declared Treasure
Treasure details
Treasure case tracking number: 2011T518
Chronology
Broad period: IRON AGE
Subperiod from: Late
Period from: IRON AGE
Subperiod to: Early
Period to: ROMAN
Date from: Circa 30 BC
Date to: Circa AD 50
Dimensions and weight
Quantity: 1
Length: 34 mm
Width: 11 mm
Thickness: 8 mm
Discovery dates
Date(s) of discovery: Saturday 13th August 2011
Personal details
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Other reference numbers
Treasure case number: 2011T518
Materials and construction
Primary material: Silver
Manufacture method: Cast
Completeness: Incomplete
Spatial metadata
Region: East Midlands (European Region)County or Unitary authority: Lincolnshire (County)
District: South Kesteven (District)
To be known as: Marston
Spatial coordinates
Grid reference source: From finder
Unmasked grid reference accurate to a 100 metre square.
References cited
No references cited so far.
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Timeline of associated dates
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