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BROOCH
Unique ID: NMS-22D466
Object type certainty: Certain
Workflow
status: Published 
Description: A fragment of a Middle or Late Anglo-Saxon silver brooch. Originally cross-shaped, the fragment consists of the splayed or pelta-shaped terminal of one arm, with just over one coil of an incomplete integral spring projecting from the edge and coiling under the plate. The plate is broken along the straight edge of a further panel forming the arm of the cross or perhaps the centre of the brooch.
The terminal probably originally joined the terminals of the neighbouring arms to form apertures in the internal angles of the cross, across which the plate is now broken. The terminal is decorated on one face with a panel containing a Trewhiddle-style beast in profile looking left, with upturned head, open mouth biting a pellet, large ear, and two transverse grooves forming a collar around the neck. The tail is interlaced around the body; there may have been a foreleg and hindleg, but the detail is unclear here. The animal is reserved on a field of niello now partially missing.
The break across the body of the brooch is patinated but not very worn. One break on the terminal of the arms of cross is patinated and worn, the other less patinated and less worn. None appear to be very recent.
Dimensions: Surviving length 18mm. Surviving width 21mm. Thickness of plate less than 1mm. Weight 1.3g.
Discussion: Fragments of similar silver brooches are recorded on the PAS database including NMS-972E58(a) (HER57139), BM-138695, NMS-3643E6 and LIN-9B7487. A complete copper-alloy example can be found at LIN-01DE95. These are sometimes known as Elmsett-type brooches from an example found at Elmsett in Suffolk (West 1998, 25, fig. 24.6). They are Weetch's Type 16.
Date: The use of Trewhiddle style is common on this type of brooch, and dates them broadly to the 9th century AD.
Notes:
As this object is made of more than 10% precious metal and is over 300 years old, it constitutes potential Treasure under the Treasure Act 1996.
Class:
Elmsett type
Sub class: Weetch type 16
Subsequent actions
Current location of find: Norfolk Museum Service Norwich Castle Museum.
Subsequent action after recording: Acquired by museum after being declared Treasure
Treasure details
Treasure case tracking number: 2014T316
Chronology
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
Subperiod from: Middle
Period from: EARLY MEDIEVAL
Subperiod to: Late
Period to: EARLY MEDIEVAL
Ascribed Culture:
Anglo-Saxon style
Date from: Circa AD 800
Date to: Circa AD 900
Dimensions and weight
Quantity: 1
Length: 18 mm
Width: 21 mm
Weight: 1.3 g
Discovery dates
Date(s) of discovery: Saturday 22nd March 2014 - Saturday 22nd March 2014
Personal details
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Other reference numbers
SMR reference number: 59800
Other reference: SET042014
Treasure case number: 2014T316
Museum accession number: NWHCM : 2015.80
Materials and construction
Primary material: Silver
Completeness: Fragment
Surface Treatment: Inlaid with niello
Spatial metadata
Region: Eastern (European Region)County or Unitary authority: Norfolk (County)
District: Breckland (District)
Parish or ward: Kenninghall (Civil Parish)
Spatial coordinates
4 Figure: TM0685
Four figure Latitude: 52.42416607
Four figure longitude: 1.02826489
1:25K map: TM0685
1:10K map: TM08NE
Grid reference source: Centred on field
Unmasked grid reference accurate to a 10 metre square.
References cited
No references cited so far.
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Timeline of associated dates
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