A well defined Williams's Class A Type 6 mount comprising a D-shaped plaque with high-relief central tree or skeleton, a serpent to each lateral edge with divided tail coiled over the 'tree's' trefoil finial, head at the tree's base; beast-head finial with loop above; shallow ledge to the reverse, two circular piercings above. 25 grams, 50 mm

Found Lincolnshire, UK.

Cf. Williams, D., Late Saxon Stirrup-Strap Mounts, York, 1997, items 102-113.

With stylised face and pierced eyes, Williams's Class B Type 4 with vestigial lower ledge. 22.11 grams, 41 mm

Found Southern England.
Acquired on the UK art market in the 1980s.
From an East Anglian private collection.

Cf. Williams, D., Late Saxon Stirrup-Strap Mounts, York, 1997, item 566, for type.

Plate brooch with raised rim and four applied knops (two absent); central disc surrounding by four radiating arms extending to D-shaped panels at the rim where the knops are attached; the interstitial fields with dense reserved meander-pattern ornament; pierced at the centre with a second eccentrically-placed hole and another offset hole at the end of one of the 'arms'; part of the rim absent; accompanied by a custom-made display stand. 7.73 grams, 29.2 mm (29.19 grams total, 68 mm including stand)

Found Harston, Cambridgeshire, UK.
Ex Essex collection formed in the 1980s.
From the collection of Dirk Kennis, Belgium.

See Bain, G., Celtic Art - The Methods of Construction, reprinted London, 1996.

The 'key pattern' design appears in Irish and Scottish (Pictish) metalwork and carved stone such as the Nigg Stone (Ross Shire, Scotland) as well as in the borders of the Book of Kells. Recorded, studied, and determined by the Secretary of State’s Expert Adviser as an object of cultural interest. The Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest (RCEWA) considered an application to export this object. The Committee concluded that the object satisfied the third Waverley criterion and is therefore currently not exportable.

Marzinzik's Type I.6 rectangular loop with thick edges, recessed bar, leaf-shaped garnet to each angle, punched detailing to the carinated ridge. 8.38 grams, 33.8 mm

Found while searching with a metal detector near Micheldever, near Winchester, Hampshire, UK, on Sunday 17th March 2013.

Accompanied by a copy of the British Museum's Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) report no.HAMP-A0905A.

Cf. Marzinzik, S., Early Anglo-Saxon Belt Buckles (Late 5th to 8th centuries AD.), BAR British Series 357, Oxford, 2003, for similar frames from Mucking II, Essex, Grave 823 (pl.82, p.199, no.914a) and from Highdown, West Sussex, Grave 34 (pl.83, p.200, no.581).

Examples are found in southern and eastern England and date broadly from the sixth century (Marzinzik, 2003, 24-5, pl.16).

Plate brooch with integral coiled spring and stub of the pin to one end; raised border enclosing a dense panel of 'Mercian Style' foliage in high-relief with central stud. 2.6 grams, 41 mm

Ex Colchester, UK, collection, formed 1980s-1990s.
From the collection of Dirk Kennis, Belgium.

Cf. a similar lozengiform brooch in the collection of Market Hall Museum, Warwick under Accession no. 53/11726; Hammond, B., British Artefacts vol.2 - Middle Saxon & Viking, Witham, 2010 p.44-5; Weetch, R., Brooches in Late Anglo-Saxon England within a North West European Context: A Study of Social Identities Between the Eighth and Eleventh Centuries, Unpublished PhD Thesis: University of Reading, 2013.

Lozenge brooches (known as Weetch (2014) Type 31.C ) are not a frequently found type in British archaeology; the British Museum's records list only 34 such items, almost all found in the East Midlands or the Winchester area. Recorded, studied, and determined by the Secretary of State’s Expert Adviser as an object of cultural interest. The Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest (RCEWA) considered an application to export this object. The Committee concluded that the object satisfied the third Waverley criterion and is therefore currently not exportable.

Disc mount with four pierced lugs to the reverse, openwork design with four radiating U-shaped elements between the arms of a cross with T-shaped voids. 26.1 grams, 57 mm

Found Southern England.
Acquired on the UK art market in the 1980s.
From an East Anglian private collection.

Cf. Carver, M., Sutton Hoo. A Seventh Century Princely Burial Ground and its Context, London, 2005, p.234 and fig.115, for discussion of bridle fittings.

The 'zoned' layout of the piece strongly recalls some of the design elements in Kentish disc brooches, where the cells contain inlaid garnets, millefiori glass, meerschaum and other materials (see Arrhenius, B., Merovingian Garnet Jewellery, Stockholm, 1985, figs. 188-193).

Comprising: trapezoidal headplate with beast-head spurs to the upper angles and concentric panels of Style I ornament; shallow bow with central cell and garnet insert; long footplate with lateral lappets and central lozenge; facing mask above a trapezoidal bar finial; pin-lugs and catch to the reverse. 82 grams, 11.5 cm

Found U.K.
British private collection, acquired by 2000.

Cf. Hines, J., A New Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Great Square-Headed Brooches, London, 1997, items 11(a) Linton Heath for headplate, 17(b) Rothley, for foot.

The meaning of the 'facing mask' motif is probably related to the profile masks so frequently used in Style I art, where the 'pellet' eye is enclosed by an arched frame: the 'facing mask' repeats this motif to produce a pair of eyes in a doubled 'bow'. An element of visual 'riddling' is no doubt present: the design is neither one thing nor the other, but includes elements of both. Distribution of great square-headed brooches was initially concentrated along the valleys of the Rivers Trent, Thames and Severn, though it was later confined to the East Midlands and East Anglia (Hines, 1997, figs. 101, 102).

Triangular mount with applied rim forming a cell and interlocking La Tène spirals to the face; hook to the apex with recesses; accompanied by a custom-made display stand. 9.11 grams, 34 mm (29.8 grams total, 59 mm including stand)

Found Haddenham near Ely, Cambridgeshire, UK.
From the collection of Dirk Kennis, Belgium.

Cf. Youngs, S. (ed.), The Work of Angels. Masterpieces of Celtic Metalwork, 6th-9th centuries AD, London, 1989, item 183, a disc mount from the Brough of Birsay, Orkney with similar applied spiral motifs.

The cells on the mount were intended to be filled with coloured enamel to produce a rich polychrome effect. Recorded, studied, and determined by the Secretary of State’s Expert Adviser as an object of cultural interest. The Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest (RCEWA) considered an application to export this object. The Committee concluded that the object satisfied the third Waverley criterion and is therefore currently not exportable.

Irregular fragment from a bronze casket mount formed with four discoid panels each filled with dense regularly-displayed foliage and tendrils with lobe finials; central pierced disc with triquetra motifs in the spandrels; accompanied by a custom-made display stand. 13.1 grams, 44 mm (50.4 grams total, 71 mm high including stand)

Found Saxmundham, Suffolk, in the 1980s.
From the collection of Dirk Kennis, Belgium.

Cf. Hammond, B., British Artefacts vol.2 - Middle Saxon & Viking, Witham, 2010; Webster, L. & Backhouse, J., The Making of England. Anglo-Saxon Art and Culture AD 600-900, London, 1991, item 138 (Gandersheim), 185.

Details of the decoration recall later 8th century items, such as the lobed tendrils and triquetra motifs on the Franks Casket; the regular disposition of elements recalls a shrine mount from Peterborough (Hammond, 1.12-d) and disc-headed pins (Hammond, 1.10-g, h). Recorded, studied, and determined by the Secretary of State’s Expert Adviser as an object of cultural interest. The Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest (RCEWA) considered an application to export this object. The Committee concluded that the object satisfied the third Waverley criterion and is therefore currently not exportable.

Group of conserved gilt-bronze and other fragments including the discoid head with radiating openwork florid cross finials and eagle of St. John, ribbed arm beneath; similar fragment with plain attachment shank; angel as the symbol of St. Matthew the Evangelist, left hand supporting a book; fragments of the tubular socket and other items. 1.6 kg total, 3.6-17 cm

Believed to be found by Mr Bramble, UK.
Recorded and conserved by Gloucestershire museum and held in a museum conservation box.

This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.11977-210855.

With carved detailing and remains of gesso and paint, hollow to the reverse; slender male merchant in floor-length robe gathered at the waist with a narrow girdle, turned collar and three domed buttons, draped mantle to the left shoulder; bonnet with turned brim and two securing tapes with tassels draped to the shoulders; left hand raised supporting a casket or base for a figure (absent); mounted on an octagonal wooden base. 2.7 kg, 64.5 cm high

Acquired UK art market, 1980s-1990s.
Property of a Suffolk, UK, gentleman collector.

Of tubular form with flared rim and applied collar to the foot, applied trails to the sidewall and four rows of prunts with applied blue-glass ornament. 233 grams, 12.2 cm high

Acquired in the 1980s.
with Christopher Sheppard, London, UK.
Acquired from the above in 2007.

This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.11978-210905.

See prunted beaker in the Getty Museum under accession no.84.DK.528, for general type; see also the Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession no.2010.521, for type.