BROOCH

An incomplete cast copper alloy trumpet brooch, of Roman date (c.AD 75 to 175).

The brooch consists of the head, bow, foot and partial remains of the catch plate. The projection lug, spring and pin are missing. The brooch is an inverted 'L' shape in profile and the bow tapers from a bifurcated head to a rounded foot knop. The bifurcated head has curvilinear fields that are located in the upper half of the head. These fields may have once held enamel as seen on an example illustrated by Bayley and Butcher (2004:p. 93. no. 221). The reverse of the head is slightly concave and would have had a perforated lug to hold the spring and axis bar from which the pin would have extended, these are all now missing. Located just below the head at the upper part of the bow is a triple moulded rib that extends around the circumference of the bow. The moulding at the centre is more pronounced at the front face and slightly flattened at the reverse. The reverse of the lower bow has the remains of the catch plate that extends from the central moulding to the point where the foot knop extends. The external edge of the catch plate is damaged and the pin-rest is lost. The foot of the bow terminates in a rounded foot knop which has a central circular pellet in relief. The lower half of the front face bow has an incised decoration consisting of two circular impressions located just below the triple moulding. Extending along the length of the lower bow is a chevron design. Much of this decoration has been abraded and the original detail lost. The reverse of the brooch is undecorated. The brooch has a mid-green coloured patina, with an abraded surface.

Trumpet style brooches typically date from 75 to 175AD. There are many similar examples on the database (WMID-31F3E4) has similar decoration and was discovered in Staffordshire and another example decorated with enamel (SWYOR-9D86F8) was discovered in Nottinghamshire.

The brooch measures 62.5mm in length, 20.56mm wide and 9.21mm thick at the bow to 9.53mm thick at the foot. It weighs 22.6 grams.

Bayley, J. and Butcher, S., (2004) Roman Brooches in Britain: A Technological and Typological Study Based on the Richborough Collection. London, The Society of Antiquaries.