BROOCH

An incomplete copper-alloy Roman plate brooch (AD c.80-250) with enamel decoration, missing the hinged pin, the curl of the catchplate, much of the enamel and with all of the original edge of the plate missing.
The brooch would have originally been circular in shape although is rather more oval now due to edge damage. It has a flat copper alloy surface within which ten sub-triangular cells have been cut, their curved apexes arranged around the centre of the plate where a knob of reel-like form has been separately riveted from the reverse. Five alternate cells carry traces of a now dark blue enamel; two of the remaining cells have traces of a brownish-black coloured substance, presumably a decayed enamel of uncertain original colour.
The flattened domed top of the knop has a central circular piercing 1.5mm in diameter, which may have held further enamel decoration.
To the reverse a raised linear area is apparent between the two D-shaped lugs for the pin bar and the incomplete catchplate below. Traces of iron corrosion around the lugs suggest the lost pin (or perhaps the bar) was made of iron. the copper alloy is smooth, shiny and green in colour.
The brooch measures 27.6mm in length (between catchplate and lugs, presumably the original diameter), 23.5mm in width, 10.8mm in depth (from knop to lugs; the plate itself is 2.1mm thick) and weighs 5.61g.