BROOCH

Roman (mid first to mid second centuries) brooch: The bow of the copper alloy brooch remains, but the wings are missing. The bow is divided into two sections; the upper portion which is a third of the bow and the lower portion. The upper portion is decorated with two vertical rectangular cells and is filled with alternating blue enamel and with what now looks to be iron corroded panels. The upper terminal of the bow has abraded edges, but is not broken and would have potentially formed the reverse of the wings or bow head. This upper portion, in profile, is particularly curved, and this maybe be partially due to damage rather than intention. Below the rectangular cells there is moulded decoration in form the form of a chevron created by two high-relief lentiods. There is a small gap where the bow is finely decorated with a V shape which has an inverted chevron as above. The lower portion of the bow tapers is decorated with a fine linear curve on each side. Towards the bow foot, there is a transverse collar, and a semi-cylindrical foot. On the reverse of the bow there is a complete, solid catchplate. The surface of the brooch has well developed mid orange/brown patina. The brooch measures 43.62mm long and 6.94mm wide across the upper terminal and weighs 7.38g.

The type of brooch is uncertain, similar decoration is found on T-shaped brooches such as illustrated in Hattat (1987), No. 911 or is a trumpet-variant such as illustrated in Hattat (1987), No. 984. The brooch probably dates to the mid 1^st to mid 2^nd century.

Hattat, R. 1987 Brooches of Antiquity Oxford: Oxbow