Anglo-Saxon Artefact Group

A mixed bronze group comprising: an Anglo-Saxon tongue-shaped strap end with pelletted border, silver-inlaid panel of a regardant beast, securing rivet, animal-head finial; a Roman bronze finger ring with stepped shoulders; medieval tweezers with balustered and notched edges. 16 grams total, 21-62 mm

Fine condition.

Acquired 1970s-1980s. Ex UK collection. Property of a Portsmouth, UK gentleman.

A superb chip-carved saucer or button brooch with extensive remains of gilding, displaying a stylised male face with puffy cheeks, large ears, long moustache, raised pellet eyes of different sizes, hair dressed in vertical ribs alternating plain and textured, some chevron and pellet patterning to the face; stub remains of catch fitting to reverse. 5.2 grams, 23 mm

Fine condition, slight scuffing to rim and one cheek.

Found UK. Acquired in the 1990s. From a North Yorkshire private collection, UK.

The brooch does not fall neatly into Avent & Evison's typology, being somewhat larger than the standard forms of button brooch and with an unusually detailed face. Broadly, it resembles Class J with alternating plain and textured vertical strands in the hair but does not have the horizontal band across the brow nor the stylised beard associated with the type. The eccentric placement of the eyes suggests that the image may be the face of the god Woden (Odin) who famously sacrificed one eye in exchange for wisdom.

A mixed bronze group comprising: a flat-section bracelet with flared ends, incised and punched linear ornament; a pair of wrist-clasps fused (probably from a funeral pyre); an openwork panel fragment, probably from a stirrup mount. 56.7 grams total, 36-68 mm



Found Cambridgeshire, UK.