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BROOCH
Unique ID: SF-486363
Object type certainty: Certain
Workflow
status: Awaiting validation 
An incomplete copper-alloy Roman brooch of the Maxey Type/ Fantail foot 5.a, dating to c. AD 50-150. The head has two wings with a semicircular cross-section being open on its back face; the rearward hook extends on the top of the head; the spring mechanism is missing. The front face of the wings are decorated with alternating couples of transverse beaded lines and single transverse groove. The bow is humped in profile and oval in cross-section; its front face is decorated with a median longitudinal beaded line flanked by a parallel raised line on each side. The bottom of the bow has two transverse raised lines just before the flat and slightly recessed fantail foot. The fantail is flat and has traces of the integral catch-plate on its back face while the front face has patches of a white metal coating.
In Mackreth's (2011, vol.I, 59) typology this belongs to his rear-hook Colchester derivative fantail foot Type 5.a, which have a wider distribution than others in his fantail foot group (which are more strongly concentrated in East Anglia), suggesting that they are a distinct type. Based on limited dating evidence Mackreth suggests they were in use by AD 60/65 and continued into the early 2nd century. This form is also often termed the 'Maxey type' bow and fantail brooch after the site in Cambridgeshire where several were found. It is characterised by the narrow, grooved bow with a transverse ridge across its lower end.
Length: 30.77 mm
Width: 21.51 mm
Thickness of the fantail: 2.02 mm
Thickness of the bow: 4.71 mm
Weight: 5.41 g
Class:
Colchester Derivative
Sub class: Bow and fantail
Subsequent actions
Subsequent action after recording: Returned to finder
Chronology
Broad period: ROMAN
Period from: ROMAN
Period to: ROMAN
Date from: Circa AD 50
Date to: Circa AD 150
Dimensions and weight
Quantity: 1
Length: 30.77 mm
Width: 21.51 mm
Thickness: 4.71 mm
Weight: 5.41 g
Discovery dates
Date(s) of discovery: Friday 17th June 2016
Personal details
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Other reference numbers
SMR reference number: RLM 081
Other reference: Finders reference SS15 194
Materials and construction
Primary material: Copper alloy
Manufacture method: Cast
Completeness: Incomplete
Surface Treatment: White metal coated
Spatial metadata
Region: Eastern (European Region)County or Unitary authority: Suffolk (County)
District: Suffolk Coastal (District)
To be known as: Rendlesham
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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