Rights Holder: Durham County Council
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Unique ID: DUR-4D6E01
Object type certainty: Certain
Workflow
status: Awaiting validation
A cast, copper alloy dagger chape, possibly dating to the late Iron Age or early roman period (c.100BC - AD100)
The chape is U-shaped with a thick, rounded base from which two half-tubular arms expand upwards. The arms are of slightly different lengths,with one slightly twisted, and are U-sectioned with an open front and back. Rivet holes on the base of the chape would have secured it to the scabbard. The chape is largely underrated, however to either side of the base are two sub-oval bowl shaped depressions. The upper portions of the depressions each have a raised lip, which is particularly pronounced toward the front or facing side of the chape. The zoomorphic character of the decoration is enhanced by the pronounced 'bulbous' base of the chape; the overall impression given is that of a horse's nose.
The chape measures 61.59mm in length and is 30.92mm wide at the top tapering to 20.29mm at the base. The base is 10.93mm thick and the arms are 4.79mm thick. It weighs 20.4g and has a brown/orange patina with some pitting on the arms.
The chape was a protective fitting at the bottom of a sword scabbard or dagger sheath, many of which were highly decorated. This chape type would protect only the edges of the blade as opposed to a pocket or bag shape covering the sides of the leather scabbard too.
Whilst no direct parallel can be found with the 'horse's nose' decoration, MacGregor (1976) illustrates two examples (164 and 165) that are of similar shape and form. A further example can be found on the PAS database (KENT-334705) which designates this form of chape as 'La Tene III'.
REF:
MacGregor, M., 1976. Early Celtic art in North Britain: a study of decorative metalwork from the third century B.C. to the third century A.D. (Vol 2) Leicester University Press ; Leicester
Class: chape
Subsequent action after recording: Returned to finder
Broad period: IRON AGE
Subperiod from: Late
Period from: IRON AGE
Period to: ROMAN
Date from: Circa 100 BC
Date to: Circa AD 100
Quantity: 1
Length: 61.59 mm
Width: 30.92 mm
Thickness: 4.9 mm
Weight: 20.4 g
Date(s) of discovery: Saturday 21st May 2016
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4 Figure: NZ4833
Four figure Latitude: 54.68976409
Four figure longitude: -1.25689988
1:25K map: NZ4833
1:10K map: NZ43SE
Grid reference source: From finder
Unmasked grid reference accurate to a 1 metre square.
No references cited so far.