File:Head Dress pin side one (FindID 53892).jpg

English: This 17th century silver head dress pin is rectangular in plan, tapering to a blunt point, and is subrectangular in section. it is incomplete, as the broader, top end has broken away at the point of a rectangular perforation, which is now without its top, fourth side. Holding the pin horizontally, with the pin end to the right, on both sides of the longer sides of the perforation are two lozengy dots, and presumably there would have been more had the pin been intact. Next to the perforation are two incised vertical lines, an incised four petalled flower and then a further two vertical incised lines. Following along the shaft towards the pin end ,there is further decoration in the form of an incised 'V' shape. Beyond that are the incised initials A.L. The rest is plain. On the opposite face of the head dress pin is a mirroring of the decoration, but instead of the incised initials there is a stamped ?mint mark which appears to be in the form of a reveresed 'R'. The rest is plain. This pin would have had approximately 3mm extra in length when complete, with the head of the pin having a decorated terminal and another perforation for the suspension of a pendant. This perforation has lead many people to mistake them for bodkins. They were used in the Low Countries and would have been brought to England by immigrants. Similar pins have been found in Norfolk and Suffolk, and this is possibly the first recorded for Essex. See Margeson, 1993, Norwich Households, page 9, plate III for a very close parallel. This head dress pin was further broken in antiquity along the shaft, but repaired by the finder. It weighs 4.09 grammes and has a surviving length of 97.54mm.