MOUNT

An incomplete cast copper alloy Iron Age or Roman mount dating to the period c. 300BC - AD 100. It is possibly a decorative shield clip, although it has also been suggested that this type of mount derives from a bucket, tankard or vessel. The mount consists of a hollow tubular sheet of copper alloy decorated with a pair of moulded ridges at each end, with two further curving ridges which meet at their apex to create an X shape in the centre. Between the arms on either side is a triangular moulding.

Cf. SWYOR-5C5FB5 for a similar example on the database.

A parallel is shown in Parfitt, K. (1995)' Iron Age burials from Mill Hill, Deal' London: British Museum Press and is identified as a Shield Clip. Similar examples have been dated to between 300BC and AD100. However, Jody Joy (British Museum) agrees that these objects could also be mounts from other objects with rounded edges, particularly mirrors or vessels, and especially tankards. Adam Gwilt of the National Museum of Wales has commented that they are decorated in the 'Celtic' La Tene style and suggests a date between the 1st century BC to the end of the 1st century AD, probably AD 20 - 80. He suggests that they are tankard mount and cites Corcoran, J.X.W.P. (1952) 'Tankards and Tankard Handles of the British Early Iron Age', Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 18, 85-102.