BROOCH

An incomplete copper alloy Roman oval plate brooch, c.2nd-3rd century AD. The brooch has a length of 30.57mm, width of 23.44mm and weighs 8.93g. The upper surface has a slightly raised rim which is 0.90mm wide. Inside this rim is a field 3.97mm wide that was originally gilt, only tiny patches of which now survive. At the centre of the brooch is a raised concentric oval bezel although the centre is now empty as the setting is missing. It is likely that the setting was a cone of black glass as a couple of small patches of a black glassy substance are present within the bezel. The majority of the upper surface of the brooch is covered in a thin layer of iron corrosion. The plate has a thickness of 1.89mm, this thickness increases to 5.17mm between the back of the plate and top of the bezel rim. It is not possible to determine what the original thickness over the centre of the central setting woud have originally been.

The single lug and catch plate are positioned, opposite each other, over the longitudinal axis. The lug has a thickness of 1.31mm, length of 8.63mm and maximum height of 5.17mm which slopes downwards towards the edge of the brooch at minimum height of 4.26mm that might represent more recent damage. The upper edge of the lug is free of the thin layer of iron corrosion that covers most of the surfaces of the brooch and is also rough to the touch. The pin does not survive. The perforation for the pin to attach is not clearly visible on the lug. On one side of the lug a small circular shape in the iron corrosion might indicate the location of perforation, now blocked by iron corrosion, however in the corresponding place on the opposite side of the lug there is less corrosion and no sign of a perforation. This might suggest that the feature seen on the other side is just a fortuitous curve in the iron corrosion. One wonders how much taller the lug might originally have been and whether the perforation could have been set within a part now missing. Taking into account the angle of slope of the catchplate return it seems likely that the lug might originally have been taller, the tip of the pin sloping down towards the catchplate rather than laying parallel to the back of the brooch plate. The catchplate is 2.00mm thick, has a length of 12.40mm and is 7.70mm heigh. The underside of the return is filled with iron corrosion.

See Hattatt, 2007, p.364, fig.223, nos.173, 172, 1210, 641, 1212.