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BROOCH
Unique ID: DENO-8C29A5
Object type certainty: Certain
Workflow
status: Awaiting validation 
Cast copper-alloy fragment with relief openwork decoration in the form of a Style I human mask. It has been photographed with the face upside down, with curved joined eyebrows merging into the top of a triangular nose, a pellet eye to either side of the nose, a possible relief cheek element below each eye (the face's left eye merging into the possible cheek element) and a bushy moustache. One half of the moustache is largely missing, but the other half is clearly in the shape of a predatory bird's neck and head, with a curling beak and sunken eye with counter-relief centre. There is a circular hole in the centre of each curving moustache-half, and it is through this that one side is broken. There are two relief elements between the moustache halves, one above the other, which may represent a philtrum (the vertical groove between nose and mouth) and the mouth.
Above the eyes is a broad straight relief band, above which the fragment is broken. The reverse of the fragment is undecorated. Length 17.53mm, width 20.16mm, thickness 3.28mm, weight 3.16g.
The fragment is probably the top knob from an early Anglo-Saxon florid cruciform brooch, and so would have worn and been seen as photographed. Side knobs tend to have fixings for the pin bar on the reverse. Florid cruciform brooches date to the later part of the 6th century AD.
Class: cruciform
Subsequent actions
Subsequent action after recording: Returned to finder
Chronology
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
Subperiod from: Early
Period from: EARLY MEDIEVAL
Subperiod to: Early
Period to: EARLY MEDIEVAL
Ascribed Culture:
Anglo-Saxon style
Date from: AD 550
Date to: AD 600
Dimensions and weight
Quantity: 1
Length: 17.53 mm
Width: 20.16 mm
Thickness: 3.28 mm
Weight: 3.17 g
Discovery dates
Date(s) of discovery: Tuesday 1st March 2005
Personal details
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Other reference numbers
Other reference: Derby Museum entry no. 4510
Materials and construction
Spatial metadata
Region: West Midlands (European Region)County or Unitary authority: Warwickshire (County)
District: Rugby (District)
Parish or ward: Brandon and Bretford (Civil Parish)
Spatial coordinates
4 Figure: SP4076
Four figure Latitude: 52.380582
Four figure longitude: -1.413782
1:25K map: SP4076
1:10K map: SP47NW
Grid reference source: From a paper map
Unmasked grid reference accurate to a 100 metre square.
References cited
| Author | Publication Year | Title | Publication Place | Publisher | Pages | Reference | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Egan, G. and Pritchard, F. | 1991 | Dress Accessories, c.1150-c.1450 (Medieval Finds from Excavations in London 3) (1991) | London | Stationery Office Books | p200, no.1081, fig 126 |
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Timeline of associated dates
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