File:Early-medieval brooch, Saucer brooch (FindID 533250).jpg

English: A cast copper-alloy early Anglo-Saxon saucer brooch, a small example of its type being just under 24mm diameter, but mostly complete and in good condition. It has an angular rim, and on the reverse a single lug for the hinge and a simple catchplate; the pin is missing but may have been made of iron as there is iron staining around the hinge area. The front of the brooch is gilded.

The decoration consists of a flat central boss surrounded by a ridge, with four irregular flat raised lozenges separating the outer field; between these lozenges are panels of indistinct relief decoration, possibly stylised or debased elements of zoomorphic Style I. There are two identical motifs - rectangular blocks from which pairs of long curving tapering elements extend, each with a pellet between. The other two areas of relief decoration are similar but not identical to each other, each having a drop shape with a dot at the wider end, but with different arrangements of lines and blocks making up the rest of the motif. These designs are all contained within a narrow ridged border.

A pair of saucer brooches with a similar design, although with only three lozenges, was excavated at Butler's Field in Lechlade, Gloucestershire (Grave 78 - see Boyle et al 1998: 87, also Plate 5.14). The design of the Lechlade brooches appears to be based on the design of Kentish keystone garnet brooches which have three bosses or settings. Other keystone garnet brooches can have four settings, and perhaps these have influenced the design of BERK-C96836. There is no clear chronological or typological progression from three to four settings within the keystone garnet brooches, and so it seems likely that the Lechlade 78 pair and BERK-C96836 may be part of a closely related group.

Saucer brooches in general date from the fifth or sixth centuries, but the close relationship of this brooch to keystone garnet brooches suggests it should come late in this range. The most common (and perhaps earliest) type of keystone garnet brooch with four settings is Avent's Class 1.2, which has been re-dated by Brugmann to her Phase III, c. 530-c. 570 (Parfitt and Brugmann 1997, 39-41 and 97-100).