BROOCH

An incomplete copper alloy saucer brooch of late 5th- or early 6th-century date. It is circular and 25.9mm in diameter, small for a saucer brooch; it also has unusual Style I decoration.

The brooch has a raised outer rim with a deep V-shaped groove immediately inside it and a V-shaped ridge immediately inside that. Within this border is a chip-carved design well executed in Salin's Style I. The design is zoomorphic, consisting of a single animal in profile, best viewed with the line of the pin horizontal (as in the photograph). There is a large profile head at the bottom of the design, with pellet eye set above a curved lower frame, then a curved headframe above which ends in an upward-scrolling curl to the right. In front of the eye, to the left, is a triangular relief element (perhaps a nose) and to the left of this is a downward-curving scroll, possibly a detached curly beak.

There are four large triple-strand and one double-strand body blocks above the head, and behind these (to the right) is a leg. This emerges from the top of the head, turns a tight angle and then ends in a pair of widely splayed curled toes resting on the border of the panel. A second similar leg is at the top of the brooch, in front of the first leg. This has a drop-shaped hip, but its two toes are simply a straight bar, again resting on the border. There are traces of gilding over the surface of the brooch.

At the rear is a hooked catchplate and the stub of the attachment loop for the missing pin. These are both perpendicular to the edge of the brooch; the catchplate is behind the curled beak and the pin lug is behind the foot with the curled toes. There is a large amount of iron corrosion product adhering to the rear of the brooch, probably from an iron pin.

Dimensions: 25.9 mm x 8.6 mm (max thickness) x 3.56 mm (disc thickness). Weight: 8.99 g.

This is the right size for a button brooch, but these are defined as including a design based on a single human face (Suzuki 2008, xxv). It must therefore be classified as a small example of a cast saucer brooch. Style I decoration is common on these, but almost always the design runs around a central roundel (e.g. WILT-52B85F) rather than being a single chopped-up animal as here.

It can be compared with WAW-15FCC5, which also has a single Style I animal but is rather larger (diameter 36.6mm). The use of Style I dates these brooches to c. 480-570 AD.