BOOK FITTING

Description: The silver-gilt fitting is incomplete and a portion of the body is missing. The body is sub-trapezoidal which a hollow box which is undecorated is. The terminal is broken and reveals there is a lower plate with a three-sided element forming the upper portion of the box. Within this portion of the fitting originally a leather strap would have been fitted.

Towards the terminal opposite the broken edge there is an elongated projection which is sub-triangular in plan with a truncated terminal. Where the projection and the strap box meet there is a high relief undecorated lozenge joining the two elements and on the reverse there is a circular perforation revealing that this portion of the fitting is also hollow.

The projection is narrowed in depth and is moulded to form a simplistic zoomorphic head. The head has two linear chevrons above two oval eyes. The muzzle has four transverse grooves. At the end there is a circular perforation which is visible on the side view.

Dimensions:

Length: 26.85mm

Width: 8.11mm

Thickness: 4.91mm

Weight: 2.69g.

Discussion: The object is strictly speaking a strap end, but the hole of the terminal and the perforation on the underside suggest it is likely to be a book fitting which always the book to be closed with a strap. It is a Howsam type A.9.2 with a rectangular attachment and lozenge shaped boss although this example is not cast as one-piece.

Similar book fitting are recorded on the PAS database, including SF-1A7DC9, NMS-AF7512, NMS-8EC891, WAW-0592C0, and IOW-7D75B7 dating to the 14^th to 15^th century.