Medieval Silver Buckle

Discoid with engraved lion rampant inside a shield surrounded with slender foliage; remains of mounting lug to reverse. 30.2 grams, 47 mm



From the private collection of the late Graham Slater (1927-2024), Cambridge, UK, acquired 1980s-1990s.

Featuring a sub-circular integral bezel decorated with an eight-armed Maltese cross with some incised decoration in its foils and a sub-circular border with traces of enamel in the field; the moulded shoulders bordered by a long triangle terminating with a long sub-oval indentation, slightly raised and decorated with two parallel lines and two circles with lines through the middle, possibly a stylised letter 'G', the shoulders tapering slightly to the narrowest section of the now straightened narrow and undecorated band. 1.21 grams, 18.40 mm overall, 16.62 mm internal diameter (approximate size British L 1/2, USA 6, Europe 11.87, Japan 11)



Found Dummer, Basingstoke and Deane, Hampshire, UK; declared as Treasure under the Treasure Act and disclaimed. Accompanied by a copy of a letter explaining that the Crown’s interest in this find has been disclaimed. Accompanied by a copy of the Report on find of Potential Treasure for H M Coroner no.2023 T292. Accompanied by a copy of the British Museum's Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) report no.HAMP-463CD7.

This motif is symbolic of membership in an Order of Knights Hospitaller, such as the Order of St John. In England, these Knights ceased to hold property after 1540 and the English Reformation. This suggests that the ring is from the earlier part of the sixteenth century. However, the letter 'G' is a prominent symbol of Freemasonry, where it typically stands for Geometry and/or God, the 'Grand Architect of the Universe'.

Quatrefoil-type with integral loop and broad lobes; niello surface with reserved image of a bowman (right) with arrow nocked and one arm bent, advancing towards a stag (left) with tined antlers, an arrow having pierced it through the neck; scene divided by a median vertical tree with three radiating boughs. 11.36 grams, 38 mm



Found by Robert Wiseman in Longdon, Worcestershire, UK, circa 2015, next to a trackway leading to St John the Baptist church that was built by the military order of the Knights Hospitaller in the 12th century. Recorded with Mark Lodwick of the National Museum of Wales, Cardiff, UK.

Described by Phil Parkes, the conservator at the National Museum of Wales, as the best of its type that he had ever seen or worked on to clean and preserve, in 30 years.