Image: Early-Medieval (Anglo-Saxon) Bird or Duck Brooch (FindID 788030)

Description: An incomplete Early-Medieval (Anglo-Saxon) copper-alloy bird or duck brooch (c. 450-c. 600). The tail-end of the bird, pin and pin-lug(s) are missing. The brooch is irregular in plan and the bird is in the sitting or resting position with wings folded. It has a body containing shallow linear depressions. The head is characteristic of Early-Medieval bird brooches and the eye is lobed at the top and formed by a ring-and-dot motif to create cells. The beak is curved and pointing downwards. A leg is situated beneath the body. The rear face is flat and has a 'D'-shaped catch-plate which is relatively large. It measures 9.6mm in length, 6.1mm in width and 1.7mm in thickness. This brooch has a matt greenish blue patina with off-white deposits at the front and rear. There is no surviving decorative material within the cells and no evidence of melting or burning. Length: 22.3mm; width: 20.0mm, thickness: 2.0mm; thickness including catch-plate: 9.3mm. Weight: 4.24g. Similar brooches have been recorded on The Portable Antiquities Scheme database. See finds: BERK-9B6095; BUC-0EC715; KENT-C0D077; NMS-B913D5; SF-3100F5; SF-E28B03; SUR-791CE8 and SUSS-C234F1.
Title: Early-Medieval (Anglo-Saxon) Bird or Duck Brooch
Credit: https://finds.org.uk/database/ajax/download/id/570269 Catalog: https://finds.org.uk/database/images/image/id/570269/recordtype/artefacts archive copy Artefact: https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/788030
Author: The Portable Antiquities Scheme, Frank Basford, 2016-06-12 21:06:36
Permission: Attribution License
Usage Terms: Creative Commons Attribution 2.0
License: CC BY 2.0
License Link: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0
Attribution Required?: Yes