KEY (LOCKING)

A Roman (AD 200-410) cast copper alloy Guiraud type 5 key finger-ring (or 'ring-key'), with the key projection bent at a slight angle. The hoop is D-shaped and measures 21.19mm wide and 17.74mm tall (internal 17.46x14.11mm), the key projection extends 16.51mm and is 2.47mm thick, and the object weighs 5.1g.

The hoop is D-shaped in cross-section (4.39x1.57mm), being curved to the outside surface. The key projection extends from the flat top of the D-shaped hoop. It is an angular S in shape and 13.90mm wide, with a rectangular hole cut in the outside edge furthest from the hoop. To either side of this, and along all outside edges of the S, are angled square and rectangular decorative cuts, sloping towards the edge, to give the appearance of a beveled edge interspersed with vertical ribs (where the original un-cut edge appears).

In more detail, these appear as: cut with rib either side at either end of the top of the hoop, mirrored where the arm extends to give a double rib at the centre with cuts to either side. Parallel to this on the other side of the S are four shorter cuts with ribs between, and the outermost edge of the S has a long cut with a rib at either end to one side of the rectangular hole and possibly two much shorter cuts and three ribs to the other side of the hole. At 90 degrees to this is a short edge with a wider cut and rib at either end.

Rotary-type ring-keys have been recorded from excavations at Colchester and Crummy suggests a date in the third or fourth centuries AD. They are associated with small boxes and caskets of personal possessions rather than doors or cupboards (Crummy 1983, 84-85).