BROOCH

An incomplete copper-alloy possible one-piece Eye brooch or 'Knickfibel' type brooch of Iron Age to Roman date, c.30 BC-AD 150. The head of the brooch consists of a spring with eight turns and a superior chord, held by a broad central hook turned back over the head. On the reverse the pin protrudes from between the third and fourth coils. The pin has a circular section and tapers to a worn point. A circular-sectioned bow extends from the centre of the spring in a D-shaped curve. Just below the apex of the curve the circular-sectioned bow meets a moulded collar, after which the bow flattens and flares into an oval shaped panel, tapering until it terminates in a projecting spherical knop. The fragmentary catchplate projects from the reverse of the oval panel and terminates in worn breaks before it bends back on itself. The brooch is otherwise undecorated.

The metal has a mid-green patina and is worn. The brooch is 54.4mm long, 20.5mm wide at the wings, 7.1mm wide at the bow, 15.0mm thick from the bow to the pin, 3.1mm thick at the bow, and weighs 7.9g.

Similar brooches are illustrated and discussed in Bayley and Butcher (2004), pp. 58-59, fig. 41. A similar brooch fragment is recorded on the database as LIN-9BDEB3.

Ref:

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.