File:Anglo-Saxon Cruciform Brooch (FindID 280265).jpg

English: An incomplete cast copper-alloy long brooch of Anglo-Saxon/Early-Medieval date, probably a cruciform brooch. Parts of the headplate, the top knob and the pin lug survive intact, the remainder of the brooch now missing due to old breaks. The headplate has a raised rectangular central panel that has lost much of its original surface due to post-depositional damage. It has integrally cast, but thinner, wings that were probably rectangular in form but are missing most of their outer edges due to old breaks and wear. At the top of the central panel is a surviving integrally cast half-round knob with semi-cylindrical terminal end and grooved waist. The front face of the brooch has the remains of extansive, and unusual, stamped decoration. This comprises large ring and dot motifs at the top and bottom of each wing and at the centre of the central panel. Along the vertical sides of the central panel are traces of possible stamped crescent or semi-circular motifs, but their precise form is uncertain due to the poor preservation of the object. On the left hand wing is a vertical row of four punched crosses in circles of similar form to those often found as decorative motifs on Anglo-Saxon pottery. It is uncertain whether a similar decorative motif was originally visible on the right hand wing.

The back face of the head has extensive encrustation and corrosion produced by the iron spring and pin, which were presumably attached to a semi-circular lug, although this is now completely hidden by the iron encrustation.

This brooch measures 20.98mm in length (31.16mm in height including knob), 30.44mm in width, 9.82mm in maximum thickness, and weighs 14.03g.

Anglo-Saxon cruciform brooches with similar ring and dot motifs on the headplate are noted both from Suffolk (West, 1998: no. 51.6) and in the Ashmolean collections (MacGregor and Bolick, 1993: no. 12.7). However, the crossed motifs on the left wing seem unusual for brooches of this type with no good parallel so far identified. These parallels indicate that the current brooch fragment probably dates to the 6th century AD.