File:A single valve from a two-piece Late Bronze Age socketed axe mould (FindID 555189).jpg

English: A cast copper-alloy single valve from a two-piece Late Bronze Age socketed axe mould. Signs of corrosion are visible on the interior and exterior surfaces, and where visible through the dark green patina the metal beneath has a very silvery appearance perhaps indicative of a high tin or lead content in the alloy.

The valve is in the form of a socketed axe, D-shaped in section with concave interior surface forming the mould. It is undecorated on its outer surface, although the remains of two small integral and cylindrical knops are visible towards the blade end of the mould, the remains of a further two similar knops are present at the socket end, and a single semi-circular loop or handle that is circular in section is preserved at the centre of the exterior surface. At the socket end the valve has a semi-circular projecting lug or collar that when joined with a similar, second mould, would only form approximately one quarter of the diameter of the socket. The interior has the mould in the form of a socketed axe of typical Late Bronze Age type. It has an expanded socket with groove below, a small semi-circular side-loop and very straight-sided body and straight blade. Around the edges of the interior surface the valve has a single deeply incised groove that would have enabled it to lock into place with the now missing second half of the mould, thus creating a secure joint to enable the casting of the axe. The entire object measures 152.81mm in length, 64.05mm in width, 28.41mm in thickness and g in weight. The axe in the mould would have measures approximately 103mm in length, 41.84mm in width at blade and 39.37mm in width at socket.

This is one valve from a two-piece axe mould of Bronze Age date. The shape of the axe in the mould is typical of Late Bronze Age axes and as such indicates a date range for the current example in the Late Bronze Age, c.1150-800 BC.