File:Early-Medieval , Trial Piece (FindID 568678).jpg

English: A lead pad or trial piece from a die stamp of early Anglo-Saxon (7th century) date. The object is flat and sub-rectangular with rounded corners, and has a worn break to one end. A shallow impression has been made on one side, almost certainly by a die stamp for making impressed foil mounts. The decoration is in Salin's Style II, framed within a tapering sub-rectangular border and with rounded lobes at the surviving end. Each lobe is filled with the curl of the beak of a predatory bird with pointed-oval eyes and no headframe. Interlace is present between the beaks. Beneath the birds' heads, the field is filled with an interlace design, each strand consisting of two grooves with a raised band between them; this is likely to have continued along the rest of the die though this part of the impression has been lost. The interlace turns sharp angles at either corner, next to the birds' eyes.

The reverse of the lead sheet is undecorated. The metal is a mid yellowish-white colour and is worn. The object is 28.2mm long, 22.1mm wide, 2.4mm thick and weighs 9.4g.

The use of Style II dates this die broadly to the seventh century. Dr Kevin Leahy, National Finds Advisor for Early Medieval Metalwork, cites DUR-3C5813 as a parallel for this impression, suggesting that it many have actually been taken off this die due to numerous similarities in the form of the decoration. Experiment has shown that the use of lead sheet as a pad between the die and the foil results in the die's motif being neatly transferred to the lead, and it seems entirely possible that this was what happened here.