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LOT 2082
Scandinavian Pre-Viking Silver Wrist Clasp Pair
5TH CENTURY A.D.
1 1/2 in. (11.5 grams total, 36-38 mm).
Spiral-coiled wrist-clasps of Hines's Class A with one broad rounded loop to the centre and one returned hooked loop. [2]
ProvenanceEx property of a gentleman; acquired in the 1970s.
LiteratureCf. Hines, J., Clasps-Hektespenner-Agraffen, Stockholm, 1993, fig.5, for discussion.
FootnotesThe spiral-coil type of wrist clasp is the earliest form of an artefact type which became a very popular costume element in especially Norway and the English East Midlands in the early Anglo-Saxon Period. Grave-finds indicate that they were used to secure the cuffs of robes worn by high-status women.
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