Anglo-Saxon Gilt Bronze Great Square-Headed Brooch

6TH CENTURY A.D.

5 3/4 in. (100 grams, 14.5 cm).

Of Hines's Group X with rectangular headplate featuring low-relief bird-heads and a raised piriform mask to each upper corner; shallow bow with raised ribs and a stud to the centre; triangular footplate with coiled horse-head lappets forming the shoulders, lateral lobes (one detached) with sheet-silver surface, inverted facing mask to the finial; remains of ferrous pin and catch to the reverse.

Provenance

Found near March, Cambridgeshire, UK, circa 2015.

Literature

Cf. Hines, J., A New Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Great Square-Headed Brooches, London, 1997, pl.33(b).

Footnotes

A close match to the features of the March brooch is not recorded in Hines's corpus, but the very distinctive isosceles triangle footplate with sharp shoulders appears on the example from Little Wilbraham, Cambridgeshire (Hines's pl.33(b). The facing masks in the upper corners of the headplate also appear on an example from Driffield (Hines, 1997, pl.82(a).

CONDITION

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LOT 0331