File:Early medieval wrist clasp (incomplete) (FindID 217216).jpg

English: Early Medieval wrist clasp; incomplete cast copper alloy Saxon wrist clasp of probable 6th century date. This represents one half of the clasp, most likely the hook plate, although the actual fixing is missing so it cannot be confirmed whether this was the hook or eye of the clasp. The clasp has a narrow, sub-rectangular bar decorated with a group of 4 incised, lateral lines close to either end. There are indications of the remains of tinning in places on the bar. There is a small break on the edge of the bar, indicating the place of the hook (or eye) attachment which is now missing. A stitching plate is integrally cast, extending along the side of the bar. The plate seems to have been of a multi-lobed shape with a circular stitching hole in each of the lobes. There are six holes along the outer edge, so presumably there were six lobes originally, although the central four have broken, three of them to such an extent that the stitching holes are now open. Between the outer line of stitching holes and the decorative bar there is a further line of holes. These are slightly larger, cruder and less evenly placed than the outer holes. There are five holes in this inner line, positioned between the outer holes. This may suggest that some of the outer holes broke in antiquity and the inner line is an addition to allow the broken clasp to be reused. However, the inner holes may alternatively just be decorative.

Length 42.5mm, width 17.2mm, thickness 2.5mm, weight 7.92g

Ref: compare the wrist clasps in MacGregor and Bolick’s catalogue of the Ashmolean collection, especially 29.24 and, to a lesser extent, 29.25 on page 179.