Rights Holder: St. Albans District Council
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Unique ID: BH-F90299
Object type certainty: Certain
Workflow
status: Awaiting validation
A medieval copper-alloy open-frame brooch.
The frame, which is symmetrical, sub-circular and has a forked projection at the base, takes the form of a pair of inward-facing, double-headed creatures. The upper heads of the animals face one another, separated by the pin constriction, around which is wrapped the loop of the pin. Each head has incuse pellet eyes and a moulded snout and ears, the latter of which are divided by a central groove. The body of each animal widens towards its centre, then tapers towards the lower end; it has a convex upper surface, decorated by means of a series of short linear punch marks, and a bevelled inner edge. The body extends smoothly into the lower neck, curving outwards and terminating in a head which is similar to that at the top, albeit smaller. The pin is of D-shaped cross section, its straight sides converging to a point, which is located behind the fork in the frame.
Height: 24 mm; width: 19.3 mm; thickness: 2.7 mm. Weight: 2.99 g.
A similar brooch is PAS record HAMP-D4C0E2 (Chilcomb, Hants), which cites a parallel from a late 13th to 14th century context in Norwich, plus silver examples from Creslow (Bucks) and Bennington (Herts). A further parallel is treasure case 2012 T814/PAS record BH-A55524, from St. Michael (Herts), which is dated to the 13th century.
Class: Open-frame
Subsequent action after recording: Returned to finder
Broad period: MEDIEVAL
Period from: MEDIEVAL
Period to: MEDIEVAL
Date from: Circa AD 1200
Date to: Circa AD 1350
Quantity: 1
Height: 24 mm
Width: 19.3 mm
Thickness: 2.7 mm
Weight: 2.99 g
Date(s) of discovery: Sunday 3rd January 2016
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Other reference: Ver 15/186 - 2
Grid reference source: GPS (from the finder)
Unmasked grid reference accurate to a 1 metre square.
No references cited so far.