ASSEMBLAGE

Two objects: (a) a copper-alloy oval buckle frame and (b) a silver, iron and gold triangular buckle plate. They were found together with silver square-headed brooch fragment KENT-ACD1B3; together, all form Treasure case 2012T351.

(a) Copper-alloy buckle frame

Description: Oval copper-alloy buckle frame, now very corroded and with much of its surface missing. The outer edge is circular in cross-section, measuring 6.8 x 6.5mm in the centre; this chunky shape extends around the curves of the top and bottom, but on the inner edge the pin bar steps down to a narrowed area 15.3mm long in the middle. The pin bar has wear from the two hinge loops of a now missing buckle plate. The buckle frame is undecorated.

Dimensions: 40.1mm wide, 22.9mm long, 6.8mm thick. It weighs 16.8g.

Discussion and Date: This shape of chunky buckle frame is characteristic of early Anglo-Saxon buckles of Marzinzik's Types I.2-I.5. Marzinzik comments that the more massive buckle loops of this form are likely to be comparatively late in the series, dating to the later sixth or perhaps the early seventh centuries, but that a rounded cross-section is more characteristic of smaller earlier buckles (Marzinzik 2003, 19; also 20-24).The former consideration probably outweighs the latter and this buckle frame is likely to date to c. 550-c. 650 AD.

(b) Silver, iron and gold buckle plate

Description: Triangular buckle plate made from iron, silver and perhaps gold. Iron corrosion obscures much of the detail. The buckle plate appears to have an open iron frame sandwiched between two pieces of silver sheet. The upper sheet is also open and follows the line of the iron frame, with a roundel around a boss at the apex and similar rounded areas around the bosses at the other two corners. The silver sheet is broader between these two bosses .

The lower silver sheet can clearly be seen in its entirety on the reverse; it is a triangular foil, set off-centre, which has been stamped over a die (in the Pressblech technique) to produce an interlaced design of a ribbon with a central line of dots. The iron and upper silver sheet frame the design from the front, but here it is very corroded, and so it is now most easily seen from the reverse. The end of the ribbon is visible at the top right (with the apex held downwards) interlaced in Style II fashion with a gentle curve across the top of the triangular plate.

What appears to be gilding can clearly be seen on both front and reverse of the foil, in small patches beneath the extensive silver corrosion. It is unusual to see a foil gilded on both front and reverse, and there is therefore a possibility that the foil is in fact made from a gold/silver alloy, with the silver now corroding to partially cover the surface.

The three bosses are all circular. The apex boss is c. 6mm in diameter and the other two bosses are smaller, c. 4mm in diameter. The best-preserved smaller boss is retained by a collar made from upright pale gold strip, which is missing on its pair; both have shallow flat remains of a material which has now decomposed to a powdery greenish white colour, perhaps originally a cement or filler beneath a setting which may originally have been garnet. The larger boss has no evidence for any collar; it appears to consist of a powdery grey-green material which is domed rather than flat. On the reverse, each boss has a small rivet hole, one (on the reverse of the boss with the surviving gold collar) filled with greenish-white material.

The edge in front of the smaller bosses is broken, but appears to have had a stub of iron to either side, perhaps originally extending to form an integral frame, perhaps consisting entirely of iron. Alternatively, it is just possible that these stubs could have continued to form hinge loops which could have articulated with the copper-alloy buckle frame (a), but this seems less likely.

Dimensions: The surviving length is c. 42mm and the surviving width is 21.4mm. It is a maximum of 4.3mm thick and weighs 3.9g.

Discussion and Date: This is an unusual buckle plate, but one which fits well into the series of triangular buckle plates with open triangular frames and decorative Style II interlaced insets (Speake 1980, pls. 6-8). There is a reasonably close parallel among these buckles from Breach Downs, Kent (Speake 1980, pl. 6g); although slightly bigger and made from gilded copper alloy, it also has a Pressblech foil which bears a beaded ribbon, made in imitation of the filigree Style II patterns applied to repoussé raised backplates on more elaborate precious-metal buckles such as the well-known examples from Broomfield and Alton (Speake 1980, pl. 6a and b). There is no exact parallel to the interlace design of this plate, but that is not unexpected as the designs are variable and individualistic. Buckles of this type are best dated by their Style II interlace, which began in the last years of the sixth century AD; they do not outlast the first half of the seventh century, so their calendar date limits are c. 580-c. 650.

Although not impossible, it seems unlikely that the plate (a) and frame (b) come from a single buckle; the frame is over-large for the diminutive plate and the mixture of metals is also unusual, although not unprecedented.