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BROOCH
Unique ID: BERK-E472F3
Object type certainty: Certain
Workflow
status: Published 
A gilded silver coin brooch or nummular brooch of Late Early-Medieval date (11th century AD), missing its suspension or attachment rivets or lugs. The object is made from a silver penny of Edward the Confessor (AD 1042-1066), which has been modified into a probable brooch or badge. Gilding survives to the front of the brooch (the reverse of the coin) and four rivet holes pierce the coin to enable it to be mounted. The piercings are located at, on the obverse, roughly 2 and 4 o'clock and then at either side of 9 o'clock, but no rivets survive. There are traces of gilding on the back of the brooch (the obverse of the coin) near the edges, however it is unlikely that this face was fully gilded, as other example show.
The coin is an expanding cross type of the heavy coinage, struck AD 1052-1053; Bust type c, North N824. The moneyer is Godric, mint of Lincoln.
Obverse: Diademed bust left; in front, sceptre with a trefoil head: EDP(E)RD RE CX.
Reverse: Short cross with expanding limbs joined at the centre by two circles: E[AD]RIC ON LI[...]LN.
Die axis: 6 o'clock
The brooch is typical of a type of coin brooch which appears to have been particularly fashionable from the middle of the reign of Edward the Confessor (AD 1042-66) to some time in the reign of William I (1066-87). While it is impossible to say exactly how soon after the coins were issued they were converted into brooches, it appears that this took place while each coin type was still current, which would mean no more than two or three years between the issue of the coin and the manufacture of the brooch, placing this example some time in the early to mid 1050s.
Notes:
As the use of this object has been changed from a coin to a brooch or mount, and being over 10% precious metal and over 300 years old, it constitutes Treasure under the stipulations of the 1996 Treasure Act.
Class: coin
Subsequent actions
Subsequent action after recording: Submitted for consideration as Treasure
Treasure details
Treasure case tracking number: 2014T21
Chronology
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
Subperiod from: Late
Period from: EARLY MEDIEVAL
Subperiod to: Late
Period to: EARLY MEDIEVAL
Date from: Circa AD 1052
Date to: Circa AD 1053
Dimensions and weight
Quantity: 1
Thickness: 0.65 mm
Weight: 1.6 g
Diameter: 19.66 mm
Discovery dates
Date(s) of discovery: Sunday 1st December 2013 - Wednesday 15th January 2014
Personal details
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Other reference numbers
Other reference: 2013.761
Treasure case number: 2014T21
Materials and construction
Primary material: Silver
Manufacture method: Struck or hammered
Completeness: Complete
Surface Treatment: Gilded
Spatial metadata
Region: South East (European Region)County or Unitary authority: West Berkshire (Unitary Authority)
District: West Berkshire (Unitary Authority)
To be known as: Beenham CP
Spatial coordinates
Grid reference source: From a paper map
Unmasked grid reference accurate to a 1 metre square.
References cited
No references cited so far.
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Timeline of associated dates
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