Saxon Period Iron Sceptre Head

Comprising: trapezoidal headplate with beast-head spurs to the upper angles and concentric panels of Style I ornament; shallow bow with central cell and garnet insert; long footplate with lateral lappets and central lozenge; facing mask above a trapezoidal bar finial; pin-lugs and catch to the reverse. 82 grams, 11.5 cm



Found U.K. British private collection, acquired by 2000.

The meaning of the 'facing mask' motif is probably related to the profile masks so frequently used in Style I art, where the 'pellet' eye is enclosed by an arched frame: the 'facing mask' repeats this motif to produce a pair of eyes in a doubled 'bow'. An element of visual 'riddling' is no doubt present: the design is neither one thing nor the other, but includes elements of both. Distribution of great square-headed brooches was initially concentrated along the valleys of the Rivers Trent, Thames and Severn, though it was later confined to the East Midlands and East Anglia (Hines, 1997, figs. 101, 102).

Roundel with central disc and surrounding band of three-strand guilloche; possibly the 'button' from a shield-boss. 9.24 grams, 28.45 mm



Found Norfolk, Southern England. Acquired on the UK art market in the 1980s. From an East Anglian private collection. Accompanied by an old Norfolk Castle Museum record slip.

The item is described on the museum's accompanying slip as a 'disk brooch' but it lacks any sign of having had a catch or pin-lug attached.

Marzinzik's Type I.6 rectangular loop with thick edges, recessed bar, leaf-shaped garnet to each angle, punched detailing to the carinated ridge. 8.38 grams, 33.8 mm



Found while searching with a metal detector near Micheldever, near Winchester, Hampshire, UK, on Sunday 17th March 2013. Accompanied by a copy of the British Museum's Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) report no.HAMP-A0905A.

Examples are found in southern and eastern England and date broadly from the sixth century (Marzinzik, 2003, 24-5, pl.16).