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BROOCH
Unique ID: LANCUM-DA511C
Object type certainty: Certain
Workflow
status: Awaiting validation 
An incomplete Roman copper-alloy knee brooch (AD 150-250).
The axis bar, spring, pin and part of the catch-plate are missing. This brooch has a semi-circular head-plate and a semi-circular, hollow, humped bow.. The plate is flat at the front and partially flat at the rear. On the obverse it is decorated with a moulded step and three crescent-shaped cells which are filled with red enamel. The lower part of the head-plate at the rear is hollow to accommodate the missing spring. However, some ferrous corrosion is still retained within the lugs around the axis and close to the head. At either side of the hollow is a pierced semi-circular lug for the axis bar. The prominent bow is convex (humped) at the front and deeply concave at the rear. From the head, the sides of the bow taper inwards and then flare at the bottom.
This brooch has a green patina and some iron staining around the lugs.
Similar knee brooches have been recorded on the Portable Antiquities Scheme database. For example, see finds: LIN-B37745; NMS-F3B6C3; SUR-5599F3; SWYOR-AFB0C6; SWYOR-F5D997; WAW-5C0948 and YORYM-3D9318.
Bayley and Butcher (2004, 179) note that after a period of perhaps a century where locally produced brooches supplied the British market, knee brooches are the first of the more general continental types seen in Britain.
Bayley, J. and Butcher, S. 2004. Roman Brooches in Britain: A Technological and Typological Study based on the Richborough Collection. Society of Antiquaries.
Class: Knee
Subsequent actions
Subsequent action after recording: Returned to finder
Chronology
Broad period: ROMAN
Period from: ROMAN
Period to: ROMAN
Date from: Circa AD 150
Date to: Circa AD 250
Dimensions and weight
Quantity: 1
Length: 38 mm
Height: 16 mm
Width: 15 mm
Weight: 9.05 g
Discovery dates
Date(s) of discovery: Friday 3rd February 2017
Personal details
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Materials and construction
Primary material: Copper alloy
Secondary material: Enamel
Manufacture method: Cast
Decoration style: Geometric
Completeness: Incomplete
Surface Treatment: Inlaid with enamel
Spatial metadata
County or Unitary authority: Lancashire (County)
District: Lancaster (District)
To be known as: Over Kellet
Spatial coordinates
Grid reference source: GPS (from the finder)
Unmasked grid reference accurate to a 1 metre square.
References cited
No references cited so far.
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Timeline of associated dates
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