Anglo-Saxon Gilt Lozenge-Shaped Brooch with complex Diamond Design

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.