Image: Early Medieval Supporting Arm Brooch (FindID 155128)

Description: Incomplete Early Medieval supporting arm brooch made from copper alloy. The brooch has a pronounced D-shaped bow, which expands out to form a triangular head. The head is sub-triangular in cross section and measures 24.09mm across; it is 4.79mm thick at the terminals. There is only one surviving projection on the reverse of the head, and this is very worn. The projections would have held the axis bar for the now-missing pin. The bow has a sub-rectangular cross-section. It is 3.16mm thick, 9.84mm wide at the base of the head, tapering to 4.88mm at the foot. The foot is rectangular, with a complete, curled-over catchplate on the reverse. The brooch is decorated with geometric designs, with three transverse grooves across the head, and a further two grooves at the base of the bow. The brooch is particularly worn on the upper surface of the bow, making it unclear if this element of the brooch was decorated. It has a dull, dark black-green patina. The total length is 34.54mm long, and it is 24.09mm wide and 12.39mm thick. Böhme (1974) divided the form into two sub-types based on the width of the head; his work was summarised in English by Evison (1977). This brooch falls between Böhme's Typ Mahndorf (head width 25-30mm) and his Typ Perlberg (head width 12-22mm) but its narrow foot perhaps suggests that it is closer to the latter type. Supporting-arm brooches appear to date from the mid 5th century.
Title: Early Medieval Supporting Arm Brooch
Credit: https://finds.org.uk/database/ajax/download/id/125695 Catalog: https://finds.org.uk/database/images/image/id/125695/recordtype/artefacts archive copy Artefact: https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/155128
Author: Winchester Museum Service, Laura McLean, 2006-12-27 16:23:42
Permission: Attribution-ShareAlike License
Usage Terms: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0
License: CC BY-SA 2.0
License Link: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0
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