Rights Holder: Somerset County Council
CC License:
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Unique ID: SOM-6EC98C
Object type certainty: Certain
Workflow
status: Published
Head and upper part of the bow of a Roman cast copper-alloy initial T-shaped brooch with hinged pin dating to c. AD 60-100. The brooch head has open-ended cylindrical wings, both slightly abraded at the ends, which are now 28.2mm wide. They have what is possibly the rusted remains of an iron axis bar for the hinge running through them and visible at the ends. The wings are decorated with pairs of incised transverse lines near the ends. There is a large transverse slot through the centre of the underside of the head, between the wings, now filled with corrosion.
The bow is very broad and slightly D-shaped in section with a convex front and flat back. It rises at c.60 degrees to the head before curving over in a shallow curve 90 degrees towards the foot. The lower part of the bow is lost to an old break. The bow tapers in width gradually towards the break. The remaining section is decorated with ribs which converge down the bow creating two nested V-shapes with a short central rib, emphasised by incised lines between them. The lower part of the bow, by the break is circular in cross section and appears plain. The brooch is now 20.1mm long, 9.4mm thick and weighs 4.77 grams.
Bailey and Butcher (2004:158) suggest a Flavian or slightly earlier context for these brooches. Mackreth (2011, p.94, pl.62) illustrates a similar example, no.2357, type 10g, but with four rather than five ribs from Exeter. he suggests this group is all similar enough to perhaps suggest they emanated from a single workshop, with most examples are known from Somerset and Devon. SOM-0EFA87 and SOM-BC01A8 on this database are of the same type.
Class: Initial T-shaped
Subsequent action after recording: Returned to finder
Broad period: ROMAN
Period from: ROMAN
Period to: ROMAN
Date from: Circa AD 60
Date to: Circa AD 100
Quantity: 1
Length: 20.1 mm
Width: 28.2 mm
Thickness: 9.4 mm
Weight: 4.77 g
Date(s) of discovery: Monday 1st January 2018 - Thursday 15th March 2018
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Other reference: SCC receipt 19841
Primary material: Copper alloy
Secondary material: Iron
Completeness: Incomplete
4 Figure: ST3733
Four figure Latitude: 51.09283361
Four figure longitude: -2.90098005
1:25K map: ST3733
1:10K map: ST33SE
Grid reference source: Generated from computer mapping software
Unmasked grid reference accurate to a 10 metre square.
Author | Publication Year | Title | Publication Place | Publisher | Pages | Reference | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bayley, J. and Butcher, S. | 2004 | Roman Brooches in Britain: A Technological and Typological Study Based on the Richborough Collection | London | The Society of Antiquaries | |||
Mackreth, D.F. | 2011 | Brooches in Late Iron Age and Roman Britain | Oxford | Oxbow Books |