File:Early Saxon copper alloy mount (FindID 704164).jpg

The mount is in the form of dummy buckle consisting of two conjoined, roughly D-shaped sections; length, 43mm; width, 24mm; thickness 7mm. One section comprises the loop which is decorated with five scrolls within a recessed channel on either side of a tongue which has two pellets at the base and a central collar of four ribs. The other section forms the plate of the 'buckle' and has a raised circular rim apparently decorated with notches and enclosing a stylised face-mask within three concentric circles with large circular eyes above a crescentic, downturned mouth. At the terminal of the plate is a triangular projection pierced probably for a rivet and flanked by two smaller triangles, which develop into arcs and undulating motifs around either side of the plate. The reverse is smooth and framed by a raised rim.

The mount appears to copy the form of a small group of Scandinavian buckles with circular plates, some of which also have scroll-decorated loops. They date from around the last quarter of the last quarter of the 5th/early 6^th century, e.g. from Snartemo, Norway, and Nydam, Denmark (B. Hougen, 1936, The Migration Style of Ornament in Norway, Oslo, fig. 29; K.S. Petersen, 1995, 'Danish niello inlays from the Iron Age', Journal of Danish Archaeology, 12, 133-149, fig. 11, bottom right). A fragment of the loop and tongue of another similar dummy buckle is said to have been found at Winchester and was reported to the British Museum in 2001, but most of its plate section was missing. There is a related, buckle-like object from Tjurkö, Sweden, which also has a mask on the plate, but a tongue-less, scroll-decorated loop (B. Salin, 1904, Die Altgermanische Thierornamentik. Typologische Studie über germanische Metallgegenstände aus dem IV. bis IX. Jahrhundert, nebst einer Studie über irische Ornamentik, Stockholm, fig. 498). Dr. Sue Brunning has further drawn my attention to an ovoid silver-gilt mount found near Thetford, Suffolk, which is also decorated with a face-mask within a raised rim (Treasure ref. 2014 T610; PAS ref. SF-DBD4E8).

The mount from the Horncastle area would therefore qualify as Treasure under two of the stipulated criteria of the Treasure Act: it is more than 300 years old and the precious metal content exceeds 10%.

The mount is in the form of dummy buckle consisting of two conjoined, roughly D-shaped sections; length, 43mm; width, 24mm; thickness 7mm. One section comprises the loop which is decorated with five scrolls within a recessed channel on either side of a tongue which has two pellets at the base and a central collar of four ribs. The other section forms the plate of the 'buckle' and has a raised circular rim apparently decorated with notches and enclosing a stylised face-mask within three concentric circles with large circular eyes above a crescentic, downturned mouth. At the terminal of the plate is a triangular projection pierced probably for a rivet and flanked by two smaller triangles, which develop into arcs and undulating motifs around either side of the plate. The reverse is smooth and framed by a raised rim.

The mount appears to copy the form of a small group of Scandinavian buckles with circular plates, some of which also have scroll-decorated loops. They date from around the last quarter of the last quarter of the 5th/early 6^th century, e.g. from Snartemo, Norway, and Nydam, Denmark (B. Hougen, 1936, The Migration Style of Ornament in Norway, Oslo, fig. 29; K.S. Petersen, 1995, 'Danish niello inlays from the Iron Age', Journal of Danish Archaeology, 12, 133-149, fig. 11, bottom right). A fragment of the loop and tongue of another similar dummy buckle is said to have been found at Winchester and was reported to the British Museum in 2001, but most of its plate section was missing. There is a related, buckle-like object from Tjurkö, Sweden, which also has a mask on the plate, but a tongue-less, scroll-decorated loop (B. Salin, 1904, Die Altgermanische Thierornamentik. Typologische Studie über germanische Metallgegenstände aus dem IV. bis IX. Jahrhundert, nebst einer Studie über irische Ornamentik, Stockholm, fig. 498). Dr. Sue Brunning has further drawn my attention to an ovoid silver-gilt mount found near Thetford, Suffolk, which is also decorated with a face-mask within a raised rim (Treasure ref. 2014 T610; PAS ref. SF-DBD4E8).

The mount from the Horncastle area would therefore qualify as Treasure under two of the stipulated criteria of the Treasure Act: it is more than 300 years old and the precious metal content exceeds 10%.