Code: 11095
This is a nice medieval bronze ring-brooch, dating to the 13th - 14th century AD. Ring-brooches are the most common type medieval brooch to survive and had a practical function: to fasten tunics, especially at the neck. Shaped as rings, with a long central pin, these brooches varied enormously in size and could be tiny, smaller than a fingernail. Ring-brooches were made of costly gold or silver, or of much cheaper copper or pewter. They were worn mostly until the late fourteenth century when changing fashions in dress included more closely tailored clothes and the growing use of button fastenings.
This example is comparable with another found near Stamford (SWYOR-A48022) and one held in the Metropolitan Museum 57.26.6. Our example is intact and presented as excavated.
OBJECT: Ring-brooch
CULTURE: Medieval
DATE: c. 1200 - 1300 AD
MATERIAL: Bronze
SIZE: 25mm x 2mm
WEIGHT: 2.24 grams
PROVENANCE: Ex. Hertfordshire Private Collection