ARMLET

Treasure case 2013 T628 - Anglo-Saxon gold bracteate and gold armlet

Discovery: Both objects were found in the ploughsoil whilst metal-detectoring a field in which previously already 4 gold bracteates and a copper alloy bracelet in three fragments had been discovered. The new bracteate was found within an area of 10 square metres in which two A-bracteates and a B-bracteate (2009T657 and 2011T657) had been found. The location of the first B-bracteate (2004T297) from the same field has not been recorded with similar precision (Behr 2010). The gold armlet has been found ca 30 metres south of the bracteate cluster. Two fragments of the copper-alloy bracelet were found in close vicinity of the bracteate cluster, one fragment ca 100 north of it at the edge of the field (Behr - Pestell 2014).

Description: Surface metal analysis conducted at the British Museum indicated an approximate gold content for the arm- ring of 79-81%, 17-20% silver and around 1% copper. The armlet weighs 28.17 grams.

The armlet is made of a gold band expanding from a narrow central strip to very elongated, pentagonal sections at each end, which taper to flattened, squared-off terminals, one of which has been cut short; lengths, 67mm (long arm) and 54mm (short arm); width, 11mm (max). The armlet would originally have been coiled, but has been apparently deliberately bent in antiquity into a rough L-shape. The narrow section is decorated all along with a double row of irregularly shaped, punched dots made with a double-pronged tool, while the pentagonal sections have a row of punched chevrons standing along each edge and continuing to the terminals. There are a few minor abrasions.