BROOCH

Date: Medieval circa AD 1300-1400

Discovery: club dig on cultivated land.

Description: An incomplete silver-gilt annular brooch. The brooch is sub-square in plan and flat in profile. The corners are inset giving the brooch the appearance of an openwork cross or squared quatrefoil. A constriction for the pin is clear on one side, however the pin is now missing. The object has been broken into three separate parts and some of the breaks have been bent, though all clearly fit together to form the whole brooch frame. Both faces of the brooch have been decorated but it is unclear which face would have been outward facing. One face depicts engraved hares and hound-like creatures running around the edges of the frame within a squared border, whilst the inset corners are engraved with quatrefoils. The opposite face has been engraved with a series of letters interspersed with sexfoils, also within a squared border. The inset corners are decorated with engraved sexfoils. The inscription reads: IE/SV/SN/AZ/AR/EN/VS/RE[X].

Dimensions: 29.72mm in length, 27.27mm in width, 3.95mm in thickness and 5.86g in weight.

Discussion: Similar examples of this form of brooch can be seen in Egan and Pritchard (2002: 257, no. 1342); and Mills (1999: 60 no. NM. 159). The latter example illustrates a floral design interspersed with letters which "appears to be a love motto" (ibid: 60). The inscription on the object in question, however, is biblical translating as 'Jesus of Nazareth, King [of the Jews]'. Several parallels have been recorded on the Portable Antiquities Scheme database, two of which were reported as treasure. A silver-gilt annular quatrefoil brooch was recovered from Brighstone on the Isle of Wight (2012 T221), also with a biblical inscription on one face and zoomorphic engraving on the reverse (Basford 2012). A gold annular brooch depicting a hunting scene of hounds chasing a hare was recovered from Brandon and Bretford in Warwickshire (Bolton 2011: 2011 T523). Two other copper alloy examples recorded on the Portable Antiquities Scheme database are similar in form though not decoration. These include an annular sub-square brooch recovered from Headbourne Worthy in Hampshire (Puls 2005); and an annular sub-square brooch with rounded corners recovered from Freckenham in Suffolk (Geake 2001). All comparable examples discussed in this section have been dated to the 14^th to 15^th centuries. Whilst the examples are not directly comparable this date has been tentatively applied to the object in question.

Conclusion: The age and precious metal content of this brooch meet the criteria for Treasure under the terms of the Treasure Act 1996.

References:

References:

Basford, F (2012) IOW-336352: A Medieval Brooch from Brighstone, Isle of Wight

Web page available at: https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/496026

[Accessed: 11 Jul 2018 14:38:53]

Bolton, A (2011) WAW-491897: A Medieval annular brooch from Brandon and Bretford, Warwickshire

Web page available at: https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/460887

[Accessed: 13 Jul 2018 13:18:44]

Eagan, G and Pritchard, F (2002) Dress Accessories 1150-1450, Museum of London: London

Geake, H (2001) SF7505: A Medieval annular brooch from Freckenham, Suffolk

Web page available at: https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/37850

[Accessed: 11 Jul 2018 14:46:10]

Mills, N (1999) Medieval Artefacts, Greenlight Publishing: Essex.

Puls, J (2005) HAMP-7E5535: A Medieval annular brooch from Headbourne Worthy, Hampshire

Web page available at: https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/99481

[Accessed: 11 Jul 2018 14:44:21]