Rights Holder: Royal Institution of Cornwall
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PIN
Unique ID: CORN-E35A43
Object type certainty: Certain
Workflow
status: Awaiting validation 
Fragment of a cast copper alloy dress pin with just the polygonal head remaining and the beginning of the pin shaft. The head is polyhedral in form (a cuboid with the corners cut off), but with a pointed terminus, square in plan and section and lozenge-shaped in profile with twelve faces. The head is 15 mm in height, 9 mm in width and 8 mm in thickness. The faces are corroded but each of the four main faces have a single central punched annulet, but there does not appear to be any decoration on the upper four faces, which would have been seen from above. Beneath the head the shaft is circular in section and 4 mm in diameter and 7 mm in length. The object measures 21.5 mm in overal length and weighs 5.15 g. This style of pin head carried on throughout the Early Medieval period, and other examples from Cornwall such as CORN-3DB874 and CORN-AED5F4 have been dated from the 10th to 11th centuries by association. But this example is more defined and a different shape in profile, and compares well to pointed pin heads dating from the Medieval period, like an example illustrated in Egan & Pritchard (2002) on page 300, fig.199, no.1476, which has ten sides converging to a point and dates from the 14th century.
Subsequent actions
Subsequent action after recording: Returned to finder
Chronology
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
Subperiod from: Late
Period from: EARLY MEDIEVAL
Subperiod to: Middle
Period to: MEDIEVAL
Date from: Circa AD 1000
Date to: Circa AD 1400
Dimensions and weight
Quantity: 1
Length: 21.5 mm
Width: 9 mm
Thickness: 8 mm
Weight: 5.15 g
Diameter: 4 mm
Discovery dates
Date(s) of discovery: Tuesday 20th June 2017 - Tuesday 20th June 2017
Personal details
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Materials and construction
Primary material: Copper alloy
Manufacture method: Cast
Completeness: Fragment
Spatial metadata
Region: South West (European Region)County or Unitary authority: Cornwall (Unitary Authority)
District: Cornwall (Unitary Authority)
Parish or ward: Gwinear-Gwithian (Civil Parish)
Spatial coordinates
4 Figure: SW5840
Four figure Latitude: 50.21040947
Four figure longitude: -5.39315583
1:25K map: SW5840
1:10K map: SW50SE
Grid reference source: From finder
Unmasked grid reference accurate to a 100 metre square.
References cited
| Author | Publication Year | Title | Publication Place | Publisher | Pages | Reference | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Egan, G. and Pritchard, F. | 2002 | Dress Accessories, c.1150-c.1450 (Medieval Finds from Excavations in London) (2002) | London | HMSO | 300, fig.199 | no.1476 |
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Timeline of associated dates
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