Plate brooch with integral catch and stub of the pin to one end; border enclosing a dense panel of 'Mercian Style' foliage in high-relief with central stud nd saltire. 4.5 grams, 49 mm



Found Gloucestershire, UK.

Comprising: headplate formed as two addorsed bird-heads on arched necks, each with a discoid eye and hooked beak beneath; vrow bow with median band and chip-carved edges; bow-sided foot with chip-carved ornament, bird-head finial with eye and hooked beak; remains of ferrous pin to reverse, catchplate. 10 grams, 55 mm



Ex European collection, 1990s. Ex Cambridgeshire, UK, collection.

Lentoid in plan with openwork image of a small bird being seized by a larger predator; loop to apex. 5.42 grams, 39 mm



Found Norfolk, UK.

One an oval plaque with beaded border and facing bust, the other similar with slot at the lower edge. 5.86 grams total, 15-19 mm



From the private collection of a London gentleman, from his grandfather's collection formed before the early 1970s.

Disc brooch with low-relief regardant beast motif within a segmented border; catchplate and pin-lugs to the reverse. 9.51 grams, 31 mm



Found Yoxford, Suffolk, UK, circa 1980. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

With deep flared rim, bilinear border to the tondo, band of Style I zoomorphic ornament and central concentric rings; in two pieces with pin-lug and catch to reverse. 20 grams total, 44.8-45.5 mm



Found whilst searching with a metal detector in Long Crompton, Stratford-on-Avon, Warwickshire, UK. Accompanied by a copy of the British Museum's Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) report no.SUR-1CB11A.

Penannular type with flat-section body and stamped and incised decoration to the outer face. 17.14 grams, 62 mm



From a UK private collection. Ex Apollo Art Auction, 13 November 2022, no.459.

Comprising: D-shaped headplate with five radiating collared knops, running scroll to the plaque; carinated bow with vertical ribbing; lozengiform foot with lateral spurs and running scroll design, beast-head finial; pin-lugs and pierced catch to reverse. 63 grams, 15 cm



Ex European collection, 1990s. Ex Cambridgeshire, UK, collection.

Formed with a pelta-shaped body, two attachment studs to the reverse, reserved border with raised triangular panel, beaded inner rim enclosing a chip-carved design of Style I Tiermensch motifs. 15.9 grams, 49 mm



Found near Diss, Suffolk, UK.

Formed with a ropework band to the edge of each cheek and the socket, doubling as the suspension loop. 5.2 grams, 33 mm wide



From the private collection of a London gentleman, from his grandfather's collection formed before the early 1970s.

Gently curved plaque with median waist, five punched concentric roundels with punched triangles to the borders. 4.46 grams, 32 mm



Found Gloucestershire, UK.

The plate is not of the standard triangular form and appears to be broken at one end; the stamped ornament has parallels in 5th-6th century brooches and mounts.

With decorative upper surface attached to a plain back-plate with spring-lugs and catchplate intact; the upper face divided by a heavy cast median rib with zoomorphic ornament in the outer panels, arranged symmetrically along the rib with a similar transverse band; the corners of the wider end reinforced with vertical posts ending in heavy lobed ‘ears’; the side panels decorated with zones of interlace ornament and the upper-end panel with a continuation of the median rib, traces of ornamental interlace; the lower-end panel plain; the transverse band pierced by two holes to accept pins (part of one one still in situ) representing 'eyes' on the stylised head; hollow-cast. 62 grams, 56 mm



Acquired in the early 1990s. From an old English collection.

These animal head-brooches were seemingly manufactured solely on Gotland, and have been classified by scholars in various ways: for example, the manner in which the back-plate is formed and applied, or if a plain internal shell was overlaid with an openwork decorative casing. MacGregor classified them according to their decorative criteria, and his scheme is generally followed in Anglophone literature. They began to appear in the Vendel period (earlier 8th century) and continued into the 12th century in a broadly similar form. Our fitting is related to the conventional group of the gripping beast ornament, here very stylised.