BUCKLE

An incomplete medieval (AD 1100-1200) copper alloy zoomorphic gaping mouth beast buckle frame of extraordinary form, missing the lower section of the frame, its pin and plate. It measures 31.75mm in length, 22.3mm wide, 18.25mm in height and weighs 18.98 grams.

The pin bar is slightly offset and narrowed and narrows in the centre to hold the pin which is now missing. The pin bar is circular in cross section. The sides, which are solid apart from a circular perforation located just by the open mouth expand into an outside edge consisting of a huge, hollow animal head. It has a broadly rectangular aperture from the incomplete bar to the top of the head (12.6mm wide and 8.15mm in height), and on the underside is a further D shaped aperture.

The top of the head is decorated with two projecting ears which are broadly triangular with a slight recess internally, between the ears is a vertical groove. The brow is formed of a raised projection which tontinues to the projecting know which runs to the aperture. the eyes are raised hemispheres within a oval groove.

This type of buckle has been studied by A. Rogerson and S. Ashley, who have christened it the 'gaping-mouth beast' buckle. It is the subject of a article in Medieval Archaeology (2011). They consider that the head is of Romanesque appearance and so a 12th-century date is likely. For other examples on this database, see NMS-83DDC0, NMS-4A6DC4 and LVPL-F96264.