Rights Holder: Suffolk County Council
CC License:
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Unique ID: SF-D9EEA2
Object type certainty: Certain
Workflow
status: Published
A well made cast copper alloy Viking Borre-style lozengiform openwork brooch in very good condition. This brooch measures 30mm by 30mm in size. The front face of this brooch is decorated with a raised central cross with circular holes for each quadrant. Each corner of the brooch has a tiny animal head, with small oblong shaped ears, round eyes and a tapering snout. The back face of the brooch is smooth and undecorated, the pin loop remains in place with a corroded iron deposit within it, this implies that the original pin may well have been iron. The catch plate is now missing.
An identical Viking brooch is illustrated in Hattatt (1989, 375, fig 234, no 1700). Margeson (1997, 20) states that several examples of the lozengiform openwork brooch have been found in East Anglia, all made of copper alloy. She confirms that the brooches were cast in a mould, one such mould has been found at Hedeby, and that this type of brooch has been found right across the Viking world from Russia to Dublin.
Jane Kershaw has confirmed this as a Scandinavian type -Openwork lozenge brooch, Type I (beaded arms) Martin et al. 2004, 498; Kershaw 2009, 313
Class: openwork lozenge
Subsequent action after recording: Returned to finder
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
Subperiod from: Late
Period from: EARLY MEDIEVAL
Subperiod to: Late
Period to: EARLY MEDIEVAL
Ascribed Culture:
Viking style
Date from: Circa AD 1000
Date to: Circa AD 1100
Quantity: 1
Length: 30 mm
Width: 30 mm
Weight: 6.49 g
Date(s) of discovery: Thursday 1st May 2003
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Author | Publication Year | Title | Publication Place | Publisher | Pages | Reference | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Hattatt, R. | 2000 | A Visual Catalogue of Richard Hattatt's Ancient Brooches | Oxford | Oxbow Books | 375 | Fig 234 No 1700 | |
Kershaw, J. | 2009 | Culture and Gender in the Danelaw: Scandinavian and Anglo-Scandinavian Brooches | - | Viking and Medieval Scandinavia | 313 | fig 7 | |
Margeson, S. | 1997 | The Vikings in Norfolk | Norwich | Norfolk Museums Service | 20 |