File:Anglo-Saxon or medieval folding balance arm fragment (FindID 179449).jpg

English: Early Medieval or medieval balance arm section; cast copper alloy arm from a folding balance arm set. The loop at the terminal end of the arm has broken away. The fragment consists of a shaft with a flattened end which is squared off at an angle. This flattened section has a small, circular rivet through it, where it would have been hinged into the central section of the balance arm (the section which would have had the pointer). The main shaft is circular in section with a squared and facetted area close to the hinged end. This area has punched ring and dot decoration on one face (in the same plane as the hinge) and possible indications of similar decoration on the opposite face. The shaft then continues with a circular cross-section again, tapering towards the terminal end. The terminal has another squared and facetted area with a double band collar. The terminal area also has punched ring and dot decoration on at least two of the four main faces. The beginning of the end loop of the balance arm can be seen, although the loop itself is broken away. The arm is slightly bent.

Folding balances of the type to which this arm belongs are known from the late Anglo-Saxon period and are quite common from the medieval period. The dating of this artefact is therefore somewhat problematic, although the facetted collars with ring and dot decoration are very reminiscent of a common type of Anglo-Saxon pinhead.

Cf. Macgregor and Bolick number 53.2, page 257 for an example of an Anglo-Saxon folding balance. Cf. Benet Viking example V18-0101, pg 331. Also note medieval balance arms M18-0301 and M18-0302, pg 518 Also Mills NM214, pg 77 Cf. NLM-EBE944 medieval balance arm with similar ring & dot decoration near the terminal end. Dated to 1250-1400, based on an example in Biddle “Objects and Economy in Medieval Winchester”.

Length 69.15mm, width (end) 6.63mm, thickness 4.68mm, diameter (shaft) 3.98mm, weight 9.51g