Record ID: BM-4B9175
Object type: TORC
Broad period: IRON AGE
County: Norfolk
Workflow stage: Published
The find consists of a single Iron Age twisted multi-strand style torc with ring terminals similar to others found in Norfolk over the last 60 years.  The torc has an internal diameter of approximately 20 cm.  It is made of predominantly gold and silver. It is made from four strands of wires twisted around each other two and a half times. Each of the 4 strands is made from 6 wires (c. 3 mm thick).  The strands are alternately twisted one clockwise and the next counter clockwise.  The strands were cast on to the terminals.  Evidence for this is clearly visible …
Created on: Wednesday 18th May 2022
Last updated: Friday 22nd March 2024
No spatial data available.

Record ID: BM-D83D1C
Object type: FINGER RING
Broad period: MEDIEVAL
County: Essex
Workflow stage: Published
A medieval silver-gilt iconographic finger-ring, with a two-faceted bezel with crudely engraved images of saints. The figure in the panel on the right appears to hold in her right hand a tower, and may represent St Barbara. The figure on the left is unidentified, and may represent a male saint. The hoop is grooved and beaded in diagonal bands, and the shoulders are engraved with flowers. The diameter of the ring measures 24mm. The ring probably dates to the 15th century. Beverley Nenk Curator, Medieval collections, Department of Medieval and Modern Europe British Museum
Created on: Thursday 30th June 2022
Last updated: Saturday 6th January 2024
No spatial data available.

Record ID: BM-9A7DD8
Object type: SWORD
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
County: Suffolk
Workflow stage: Published
Crumpled gold foil pommel cap ornamented with C scrolls executed in beaded filigree wire.  The pommel cap is badly damaged with both ends crushed and distorted and the filigree ornament on one face missing.   The surviving filigree is well made filling the surviving panel with a balanced pattern of graded pairs of loops with spiralled ends enclosing a central motif of an inverted ‘C’ scroll lying back to back with a kidney shaped element executed with two beaded filigree wires.   The panel is enclosed by a border of filigree wire, of a heavier weigh…
Created on: Wednesday 15th June 2022
Last updated: Thursday 4th January 2024
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: BM-0FA2A5
Object type: FINGER RING
Broad period: POST MEDIEVAL
County: Hampshire
Workflow stage: Published
Plain gold band, scratched and worn, with the inscription: true love is the bond of peace. The inscription is recorded by Joan Evans (1931) in a late 16th century manuscript and the lettering is consistent with a 17th century date, but we know that 17th century lettering style continued well into the 18th century from the British Museum's dated sequence of mourning rings. In the absence of marks or any distinguishing decorative feature there is no firm evidence to date this pre 1704.
Created on: Tuesday 3rd May 2022
Last updated: Wednesday 6th December 2023
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: BM-E4F9F4
Object type: COIN
Broad period: ROMAN
County: Bedford
Workflow stage: Published
An incomplete silver Roman siliqua of Arcadius (AD 383-408), dating to the period AD 395-402 (Reece period 21). VIRTVS ROMANORVM reverse type depicting Roma seated left on cuirass holding Victory and spear. Mint of Milan. cf. Hoxne no. 708; RIC X no. 1227.
Created on: Friday 10th November 2023
Last updated: Tuesday 21st November 2023
Spatial data recorded. This findspot is known as 'Elstow', grid reference and parish protected.

Record ID: BM-182986
Object type: PENDANT
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
County: Norfolk
Workflow stage: Published
Description: Silver pendant in the shape of a hammer, with a hexagonal head angled back from a shallow point in the centre, towards a tapering shaft. The shaft is hammered flat at the terminal, so is deeper than the flat section of the rest of the hammer, and pierced through the terminal for suspension. It is decorated on both the front and back of the head and just onto the shaft by small punch-marked annulets, in some cases grouped into a quatrefoil design, but in other cases less regularly. Analysis: Non-destructive X-ray fluorescence analysis of the surface indicated a precious me…
Created on: Friday 17th July 2020
Last updated: Thursday 9th November 2023
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: BM-D744F2
Object type: FINGER RING
Broad period: MEDIEVAL
County: Hampshire
Workflow stage: Published
A medieval finger ring, now badly distorted and measuring 21mm across its greatest diameter.  The ring is engraved with the phrase en bon an (‘in a good year’).    The inscription is punctuated with sprigs of foliage. The ring is silver and was once entirely gilded.  The gilding only survives on the interior of the hoop and in the deepest recesses of the engraved design.  Traces of solder can be seen between the words bon and an on both the interior and exterior surfaces of the ring.  It dates to the fifteenth century.
Created on: Thursday 30th June 2022
Last updated: Tuesday 26th September 2023
No spatial data available.

Record ID: BM-EE16B2
Object type: BUCKLE
Broad period: POST MEDIEVAL
County: Hampshire
Workflow stage: Published
Oval silver buckle, the tab fitted with a stud for attachment to a leather strap. The reverse stamped with a shield‑shaped maker's mark: WW with two small mullets above and one larger mullet below. 
Created on: Wednesday 13th July 2022
Last updated: Tuesday 26th September 2023
No spatial data available.

Record ID: BM-512238
Object type: HOOKED TAG
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
County: Wiltshire
Workflow stage: Published
Silver Anglo-Saxon hooked tag, complete, l. 33mm, w. 14mm, wt. 1.95g.  This piece has a triangular plate with elegantly scalloped top and two internal holes near the corners for attachment. The field is plain but the long edges are decorated with borders of incised ladders.  There is a slight bulge above the tapering hook.  The back is plain.  This is probably a dress attachment which could have been used for veiling or gartering, probably the former because it is very light-weight. Heavier-duty hooked tags may also have been used to fasten purses.  
Created on: Thursday 11th August 2022
Last updated: Tuesday 26th September 2023
No spatial data available.

Record ID: BM-785AFD
Object type: MOUNT
Broad period: MEDIEVAL
County: Hampshire
Workflow stage: Published
Circular medieval silver mount, with four knops around the outside, some damage to the edges. At the centre is an equal-armed cross with rounded ends, enclosed within a filigree circular border, and surrounded by six pairs of sub-square cells with X-shaped motifs incised at centre. Nondestructive X-ray fluorescence analysis of the surface of the object conducted at the British Museum show a silver content of approximately 96 per cent.
Created on: Thursday 25th August 2022
Last updated: Tuesday 26th September 2023
No spatial data available.

Record ID: BM-4C556F
Object type: INGOT
Broad period: IRON AGE
County: Doncaster
Workflow stage: Published
A ribbon or thin bar of gold 73 mm long, 9 mm wide and 1.25 mm thick with originally a curved profile on an arch of an approximate diameter of 80-90 mm, but sharply bent 43 mm from the squared off end. The object appears to have been cut from of a larger object. The squared off end is probably the original end of the end, the other is less regularly finished off.  The object is relatively poorly finished compared to other prehistoric gold objects and has ample evidence for hammering and working across all surfaces.  Scientific analysis across the surface of the object suggest…
Created on: Wednesday 18th May 2022
Last updated: Tuesday 26th September 2023
No spatial data available.

Record ID: BM-4D391D
Object type: WIRE
Broad period: IRON AGE
County: Greater London Authority
Workflow stage: Published
A small fragment from a thin gold wire strip 12.5 mm long, 2.0 mm wide and c. 0.25mm thick, was recovered from peaty marsh deposits that pre-date the construction of a Roman timber building on the site in the middle of the 1st Century BC.
Created on: Wednesday 18th May 2022
Last updated: Tuesday 26th September 2023
No spatial data available.

Record ID: BM-BFEBF1
Object type: PENDANT
Broad period: MEDIEVAL
County: Swindon
Workflow stage: Published
Description: A late medieval silver pendant. The pendant is flat and oval with an integrally cast suspension loop which is D-shaped in cross-section (being flat to the inside surface). Around the edge of the oval, on the front of the pendant, repeated incised oblique lines form a crimped edge. The design is formed of four letters interspersed at 90 degree angles and divided by pairs of slim incised radial lines which are crossed at the top by double horizontal lines. The letters are in Lombardic text and, beginning from the top in a clockwise direction, read ‘…
Created on: Friday 30th October 2020
Last updated: Friday 14th July 2023
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: BM-953304
Object type: FINGER RING
Broad period: POST MEDIEVAL
County: Norfolk
Workflow stage: Published
Gold ring, formed of a small thin hoop of circular section, decorated all over with engraved cross-hatching containing traces of black enamel. In the absence of anything comparable in the collections this is a difficult piece to place. It may be a fitting of some kind rather than a finger-ring.
Created on: Thursday 21st July 2022
Last updated: Monday 26th June 2023
No spatial data available.

Record ID: BM-64C9F6
Object type: FINGER RING
Broad period: MEDIEVAL
County: County of Herefordshire
Workflow stage: Published
A medieval gold finger-ring dating to the period c.AD 1200-1500. The bezel of the ring is rectangular in plan, and in cross-section it widens where it meets the band before narrowing to its flat base. It is hollow, and its upper surface forms a border around a polished rectangular blue gemstone or glass setting within it. The stone exhibits post-depositional damage, comprising a chip to one corner and a diagonal gouge situated slightly off-centre. The hoop is D-shaped in cross-section, and is now distorted, likely the result of post-depositional damage. Decoration comprises incised che…
Created on: Wednesday 23rd February 2022
Last updated: Friday 16th June 2023
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: BM-8D43E1
Object type: PIN
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
County: Norfolk
Workflow stage: Published
Large silver gilt ball-headed pin (approx. diameter 20mm), decorated with four S-shaped double spirals set between four prominent bosses, with a further boss on the top of the pin. Each boss or setting has around it spiral filigree wire between further strands of spiral wire with spiral running in the other direction. Three of the four bosses around the side retain a flat cut disc of ?garnet or red glass in their setting. The boss on the top of the pin retains a damaged clear glass pellet or rock crystal cabochon.  The short collar of the pin springs from within a small boss compr…
Created on: Wednesday 9th March 2022
Last updated: Friday 16th June 2023
No spatial data available.

Record ID: BM-896B57
Object type: COIN
Broad period: ROMAN
County: Surrey
Workflow stage: Published
A very worn copper-alloy Roman coin, possibly a contemporary copy ('limesfalsum') of an as or dupondius of uncertain 2nd century AD date, perhaps copying a coin of Marcus Aurelius as caesar (AD 139-161) or similar. Reverse type depicts Mars or the Emperor walking right holding transverse spear in right hand and trophy(?) in left, S [C] in the field. Cf. BMC p. 332, no. 1983 for a similar reverse type on an as or dupondius of Marcus Aurelius.
Created on: Wednesday 25th January 2017
Last updated: Tuesday 6th June 2023
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: BM-F1D4E7
Object type: PENDANT
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
County: Lincolnshire
Workflow stage: Published
Gold and cloisonné garnet insect pendant with a suspension loop in the form of a biconical spacer bead. The pendant consists of a flaring bifurcated backplate cut with a triangular head which wraps around the back of the suspension bead which is soldered to it. The back-plate supports a single gold strip, soldered flush to its edges, whose ends form a poor butt join beneath the suspension loop. This frames the cloisonné cell-work which is made with thicker strips of gold sheet and laid out in a complex design which can be read …
Created on: Tuesday 7th June 2022
Last updated: Friday 2nd June 2023
No spatial data available.

Record ID: BM-D0330C
Object type: FINGER RING
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
County: Oxfordshire
Workflow stage: Published
Gold Anglo-Saxon finger ring, bezel w. 15 x 16mm; hoop w. 4mm; wt. 5.39g. Ring made in two parts from sheet gold: a plain broad band hoop with a longitudinal row of beaded filigree wire, ending in splayed lozenge-shaped terminals soldered behind the bezel. The bezel is a circular disc with a rim of finer beaded wire framing four collared settings of degraded bi-chrome glass beads. The beads appear to be spherical, one rotates slightly, and their gold collars are composite, each sheet collar carries a ring of beaded wire and an upper ring of plain wire.  The bezel is divided into …
Created on: Wednesday 17th August 2022
Last updated: Friday 2nd June 2023
No spatial data available.

Record ID: BM-5FCB75
Object type: SWORD
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
County: Lincolnshire
Workflow stage: Published
Anglo-Saxon hilt fittings: pommel, upper and lower hilt fittings, part of upper guard, part of lower guard Gold sheet, gold filigree wire, cabochon garnets, copper-alloy, lead Early seventh century The pommel is of ‘cocked hat’ form and is made of gold sheet, decorated with filigree wire, over a lead forma.   The two faces of the pommel are filled with zoomorphic interlace in triple strand interlace, made with one broad band of beaded wire flanked by borders of a very fine beaded wire.   Each face is filled with a balanced design of interlacing zoomor…
Created on: Wednesday 24th August 2022
Last updated: Thursday 1st June 2023
Spatial data recorded.