Medieval Bronze Ring Brooch

This is a nice medieval bronze ring-brooch, dating to the 13th - 14th century AD. Ring-brooches are the most common type medieval brooch to survive and had a practical function: to fasten tunics, especially at the neck. Shaped as rings, with a long central pin, these brooches varied enormously in size and could be tiny, smaller than a fingernail. Ring-brooches were made of costly gold or silver, or of much cheaper copper or pewter. They were worn mostly until the late fourteenth century when changing fashions in dress included more closely tailored clothes and the growing use of button fastenings.

This example is circular in shape, the outer face featuring ten raised circular collets, each containing the remains of white and a yellow paste filling. The reverse is flat with a rounded outer edge. Between two of the collets there is a narrow constriction where 2/3rds of a simple wire pin remains in situ, bent slightly out of shape. Similar examples were found at Meols (Griffiths et al. 2007, 143, particularly no's: 1720, 1722 & 1723). Evidence from excavated examples (ibid., 144) suggests a mid-13th to 14th century AD date for this style of brooch.

OBJECT: Ring-brooch

CULTURE: Medieval

DATE: c. 13th - 14th century AD

MATERIAL: Bronze

SIZE: 31mm x 7mm

WEIGHT:  6.41 grams

PROVENANCE: Ex. private collection, Brittany, France.