File:Early-Medieval (Anglo-Saxon) Silver-gilt Small Square-headed Brooch. Treasure case no. 2016 T797 (FindID 808457).jpg

English: An incomplete Early-Medieval (Anglo-Saxon) silver-gilt small square-headed brooch (c. 450-c. 600). Treasure case no. 2016 T797.

Part of the head-plate, part of the bow, the pin and the lower part of the brooch are missing. The brooch is moulded at the front and flat at the rear. It has a flat head-plate frame decorated with two parallel wavy lines of punched indentations. The raised head-plate second panel has a line of deep interlocking triangular cells some of which contain a silver grey substance which may be decayed niello. The inner panel has a 'beaded' border and is divided into two square sections by a vertical rib. Both sections originally contained three horizontal chip-carved ribs or billets although one section is mostly missing due to a break. The top of the bow, just beneath the inner panel of the head-plate, is straight and the sides of the bow are parallel. The bow has a central vertical rib with vertical interlocking triangular cells in similar style to the head-plate second panel. Some of these cells also contain a silvery grey substance. The central rib is flanked on either side by two vertical parallel ribs. These two outer ribs are slightly wider than the inner ribs and have punch marks similar to those on the head-plate frame. The inner ribs may not have been punched. Along each vertical edge of the bow there is a plain border. At the rear of the head-plate a pin lug is 'D'-shaped in side view and measures 6.0mm in length, 5.1mm in width and 1.4mm in thickness. It is pierced with a circular hole to accommodate a copper-alloy axis bar for the pin, a fragment of which is present.

The bow is worn at the front and the breaks are old.

19.6mm (length); 17.5mm (width); 9.0mm (overall thickness); 14.6mm (depth of head-plate); 2.0mm (thickness of head-plate); 10.8mm (width of bow); 2.2mm (thickness of bow). Weight: 2.19g.