Large Anglo-Saxon Bronze Cruciform Brooch

With square headplate and lozengiform foot, band of punched pellets to the edges, pin-lug and catch to reverse. 10.4 grams, 54 mm



Found Essex, UK. Acquired from TimeLine Originals, Essex, UK, circa 2010. From the private collection of a Leicestershire, UK, gentleman.

Discoid in plan with pin-lug, chord, pin and catch to the reverse; applied rim secured by four domed rivets; low-relief hexafoil motif with interstitial ring-and-dot motifs, segmented border. 16.9 grams, 48 mm



Found Cambridgeshire, UK. Acquired on the UK art market in the 1980s. From the private collection of an Essex gentleman.

Applied brooches are a recognised form of early Anglo-Saxon costume, associated mostly with Saxon areas such as Sussex and the Thames valley. The majority of such brooches are made up from a plain backplate with the pin and catch attached, and a thin front plate with repoussé ornament. The present example appears to be formed as a decorative body with an applied rim; there is evidence for this construction technique in the form of two unassociated rims from a grave at Fairford (Gloucestershire) (MacGregor & Bolick, item 1.39).

Comprising a flat discoid head and narrow round-section shank; the head with low-relief cruciform design, zoomorphic scroll in each spandrel and central piercing to accept a stud. 4.38 grams, 37 mm



Found Weston Colville, Cambridgeshire, UK. Acquired on the UK art market.