Merovingian Saxon period gold and garnet scabbard button

Code: 11496

This is a nice Merovingian or Anglo-Saxon gold button, dating to the 6th - 7th century A.D. It is decorated with a beaded wire rim surrounding a cabochon garnet gemstone. Similar objects have been attributed to scabbard buttons or brooch fittings. Today the jewel has survived intact, with a slight loss of the rim (from its time buried in the ground). See NMS-244527 and HAMP-2DAB03 for a discussion on this genre of button/fitting. 

OBJECT: Button/mount

CULTURE: Anglo-Saxon / Merovingian

DATE: c. 6th - 7th century A.D.

MATERIAL: Gold & Garnet

SIZE: 18mm x 15mm x 6mm 

WEIGHT: 2.98 grams

PROVENANCE: Formerly in a European Private Collection, Paris.