Iron Age Celtic Bronze Catuvellauni Clothes Fastener

Or clothes fastener, boss-and-loop type. 10.44 grams, 35 mm



Found Higham Ferrers, Northants, UK. Ex Chris Rudd collection, Norfolk, UK; formed since the 1970s. Collection number CE34. Accompanied by a Chris Rudd information card.

Chris Rudd has collected ancient coins and antiquities since the 1940s. As an amateur archaeologist he found many himself at Badbury Rings, Dorset, 1952-53. He also dug at Hod Hill with Professor Sir Ian Richmond and at Wroxeter with Dame Kathleen Kenyon and Dr Graham Webster. Today he is best known as a Celtic coin dealer. His catalogues have been described as ‘an important research source’ by Professor Sir Barry Cunliffe and ‘treasure houses of delight’ by Dr Anne Ross. Coins and artefacts associated with Chris Rudd – as a collector, dealer and valuer – can be seen in The British Museum and other museums. This collection was formed since the 1970s.

Comprising: a couchant bull with stylised detailing, recess and mounting lugs to base; head of a bull with crescentic horns and rectangular lug forming neck, possibly a furniture fitting; bull's head with ring through nose, notched horns and pierced rectangular lug to reverse. 114 grams total, 29-51 mm



‘The Ancient Menagerie Collection’ formerly the property of a Cambridgeshire lady, collected since the 1990s and acquired from auctions and dealers throughout Europe and the USA, now ex London collection.

Of tripartite form, comprising: the handle, the main mirror plate and tubular binding edge; the reverse of the mirror plate with traces of volute and spiral decoration, once covering the entire surface, thick applied border; separate handle comprising three fastening lobes and three openwork rings forming the grip, possibly a marriage. 355 grams, 27 cm



Private collection since the late 1990s. Property of an English collector. Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D’Amato. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.10603-174116.

Such mirrors were a unique product of the Celts in Britain, during a period between 300 B.C. and 100 A.D., when they were buried in the graves of queens, high-born princesses and other noblewomen, or in treasure hoards. The majority of these graves are dated between 100 B.C. and 100 A.D. Most of the specimens come from Britain (Desborough, Oxfordshire, Old Warden, Shillington, Trelan Bahow, Mayer mirrors), and a few were found in the nearby regions of France or the Low Countries (e.g. the Dordrecht mirror).