LOT 1701

Anglo-Saxon Decorated Silver Hooked Tag

8TH-9TH CENTURY A.D.

3/4 in. (0.68 grams, 20 mm).

Of broken kite shape with two foliate designs below running to the narrow hook, all features outlined by heavy groove infilled with niello, single piercing above. [No Reserve]

Found whilst searching with a metal detector by Robin Sykes at Sutton in the Forest, Yorkshire, UK, on Monday 17 November 2003, recorded as Treasure by the finder and disclaimed by the Crown with Treasure Reference no.2004 T50.
From the private collection of Robin Sykes, Yorkshire, UK, formed since the late 1990s.

Accompanied by a copy of the Treasure Report by the Curator of Anglo-Saxon Collections, Department of Prehistory and Europe, at the British Museum.
Accompanied by a copy of the British Museum's Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) report no.YORYM-580904.
This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

See Pestell, T., Ulmschneider, K., Markets in Early Medieval Europe, Trading and Productive Sites, 650-850, Macclesfield, 2003, pp.66-67, fig.6.1; West, S., A Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Material from Suffolk, East Anglian Archaeology 84, Ipswich, 1998, fig.97.1, 2, 4.

Hooked tags were used for fastening a variety of dress articles, including garters. The present example is unusual in its shape, decoration and for having only a single piercing.