File:Dolphin brooch (plan) (FindID 617790).jpg

English: Incomplete cast copper alloy Roman hinged T-shaped brooch with the remains of part of the iron spindle held inside the tubular wings, still visible at the broken ends of the wing as iron oxide. The copper alloy hinge and the beginning of the pin also survive within the notch behind the head of the brooch. The notch extends to a short triangular recess behind the bow. The rest of the pin is missing as is the catch plate and the foot of the bow. The bow is triangular in plan and semi-circular in section, tapering towards the foot. The front of the bow has a flattened rectangular panel with a raised edge within which are recessed lozenges alternating with triangles that may have originally been enamelled but the brooch is pitted and corroded so that any remains are not visible. On either side of the raised panel is a recessed but flanged section leading to the wings. The more complete of the short wings has two incised transverse lines with run vertically across the front of the wing but do not carry on circumferentially around the back of the wing.

Hattatt (2000) illustrates similar hinged T-shaped brooches with central raised mouldings on the bow and incised wings on page 302, Fig.161, Nos.906-7, and an enamelled T-shaped brooch with lozenges on the bow on page 303, Fig.162, No.386, which are dated from the 1st-2nd century AD.

Bayley and Butcher (2004) illustrate an 'initial' hinged T-shaped brooch with a raised central rib on the bow and a collar on either side as the bow extends towards the wings on page 158, Fig.127, No.T104, which is dated from the mid to late 1st century AD, and a developed T-shaped brooch with enamelled lozenges on the bow in page 166, Fig.138, No.T105/6, which is dated from the 2nd century AD.