Rights Holder: shaun chapell
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Unique ID: PUBLIC-FE29BB
Object type certainty: Probably
Workflow
status: Published
Medieval copper-alloy book clasp of hinged type (Howsam type A.1.1). The plate is made from a piece of undecorated sheet bent in half, with large recesses cut at the corners of the fold. It has an incurved attachment end with two separate copper-alloy rivets retaining a concreted substance sandwiched between the two halves of the plate.
The hinged end is of a far blacker alloy, and appears to have been cast. It has a rounded central element with a large circular perforation running from front to back. The central element is plano-convex in cross-section. From one side are two projections, joined by a bar on which the plate hinges. On the other side of the central element is a single longer projection, which has a small front-to-back circular perforation close to the base and a larger side-to-side circular perforation nearer to the end. In side view the hinged end resembles an animal head.
These book clasps are known in situ on books. They are fixed to a strap on one cover of the book, and the perforated central element fits over a peg on the other cover. It is thought that the side-to-side perforation would have held a loop of cord, helping to pull the clasp off the peg.
There are several similar examples known from contexts of 1350-1450 in London (Egan 1998, nos. 919-925).
Class:
clasp
Sub class: Howsam type A.1.1
Subsequent action after recording: Returned to finder
Broad period: MEDIEVAL
Period from: MEDIEVAL
Period to: MEDIEVAL
Date from: Circa AD 1350
Date to: Circa AD 1500
Quantity: 1
Length: 33 mm
Width: 7 mm
Thickness: 3 mm
Weight: 2.5 g
Date(s) of discovery: Sunday 28th December 2014
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4 Figure: TR2050
Four figure Latitude: 51.20681886
Four figure longitude: 1.148148
1:25K map: TR2050
1:10K map: TR25SW
Grid reference source: From finder
Unmasked grid reference accurate to a 10 metre square.
No references cited so far.