Image: Late Saxon disc brooch (FindID 99659)

Description: Late Saxon cast copper-alloy disc brooch with backward-looking beast within border of 28 pellets (the most frequently recorded number of pellets on a brooch of this type). The beast has a forked, upturned tail, open jaws and a spiky mane. Ring-and-dot eye, single ring-and-dots on beast's breast and haunches. The beast has four legs, with three toes on each, although the foot furthest to the left is indistinguishable from the spikes of the mane. On the reverse are the remains of a pin lug positioned directly behind the beast's head. A small raised rectangular area indicates the position of the catchplate. This example is in very good condition, with well-defined decoration. Diameter 27mm. Weight 5.9g. Backward turning animal brooches are thought to date to the late Saxon period, probably from the early tenth century onwards. The type is characteristic of East Anglia but are also found in Lincolnshire. This example is the eighth in a series of mould-identical backward turning animal brooches found in Norfolk, with other examples known from Hillington (HER 20176), Forncett (HER 24658), Mundham (HER 24894), Elsing (HER 28643), Hevingham (HER 29292), Salle (HER 30429) and Thompson (HER 39736).
Title: Late Saxon disc brooch
Credit: https://finds.org.uk/database/ajax/download/id/67382 Catalog: https://finds.org.uk/database/images/image/id/67382/recordtype/artefacts archive copy Artefact: https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/99659
Author: Norfolk County Council, Ellen Bales, 2005-06-22 09:32:10
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
Attribution Required?: Yes