File:Early Medieval (Anglo-Saxon) girdle hanger. (FindID 958413).jpg

English: A copper-alloy fragment of an Early Medieval (Anglo-Saxon) girdle hanger, dating to AD 470-560. It is the shank neck part of the object; the shank is sub-rectangular in cross-section and bears a decoration on the front face depicting a line of inwards facing punched crescents along the long edges. The neck is roughly D-shaped in cross section and tapers towards an oval loop set at right angle to the plane of the shank. The front face of the neck has a moulded decoration depicting a series of transverse grooves alternate with parallel ridges, starting from the bottom of the loop to 8.16 mm from the end of the neck; the latter part turns into a faceted element which ends in a step before the shank itself. The back face of the shank is undecorated while at the neck it has a sub-rectangular shallow recess. The shank breaks at 14.99 mm after the neck and slightly bent forwards at the broken edge.

Cf Felder (2009, vol 2, pl. 31, no. 5). An identical parallel with the transverse ridges and faceted decoration on the neck has not been found.

Length: 49.48 mm

Width: 8.31 mm

Thickness of the neck: 6.28 mm

Thickness of the shank: 2.54 mm

Weight: 8.28 g