File:1st century Roman brooch (FindID 70549).jpg

English: Incomplete copper alloy Romano-British ‘Colchester’ two piece brooch. The wings on this brooch are complete, semicylindrical and plain. Behind the head is a lug with two circular perforations, the bottom of the lug being broken at the point of the lower perforation. The spring and pin are entirely missing but a fraction of the spring chord survives through the upper, complete perforation. On the head of the brooch is a tiny crest that does not extend onto the bow. The bow is semicircular in section and plain. It tapers towards the foot, but the very end of the foot is missing. The curled catchplate is entirely missing. The patina of the object is an even mid green with flashes of bright green where the spring would have sat. All breaks are worn smooth and similarly patinated suggesting damage occurred in antiquity, though the spring coil may have broken away more recently given the bright nature of corrosion at this point. The brooch is 31.08mm long, 18.48mm wide across the remains of the wings, 5.14mm wide across the bow, 3.14mm thick and weighs 3.72g. Brooches of this type date from between 50-70AD. Slightly more decorative examples can be seen in Crummy 1983, figure 6.