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Fragment / silver

Description

One of two joining pieces of thin silver sheet decorated along surviving original edges with a border of small circular raised dots, from Norrie's Law, Fife, 500 - 700 AD

Museum reference

X.FC 80

Collection

Archaeology

Object name

Fragment / silver

Date

6th - 7th century
Early Medieval

Materials

Silver

Physical description

One of two joining pieces of thin silver sheet, originally part of a larger object, decorated along the two surviving original edges with a border of small circular raised dots. The two fragments were made into a hacksilver parcel – folds are clearly visible, though all now are unfolded. X.FC 80 is the larger of the two fragments, and three folds are visible: folded once along the width, then both thicknesses folded in at one corner, and one thickness folded in at the other corner. Both fragments show that the original object expanded along its length and had slightly curving sides, one more shallowly curved than the other, producing a shape suggestive of the expanded terminal of a penannular brooch such as x.FC 37. The non-joining edge of x.FC 79 is cut rather than broken along a fold – a long straight cut runs from the outer edge to the middle, and then what may be several shorter cuts complete the width; the section is smooth under magnification. This appears to be the case on the non-joining edge of x.FC 80 suggesting that (before broken into two separate fragments) they formed the entirety of a parcel, unless perhaps a further separate fragment or coin was sandwiched within the folds.

Collection place(s)

Norrie's Law, Largo, Fife, Scotland, Northern Europe

Associations

Landowner: Durham, James, General, 1754 - 1840
Reporter: Buist, George, 1805 - 1860

Exhibitions

  • Scotland's Early Silver (13 Oct 2017 - 25 Feb 2018)
    National Museum of Scotland

Links to other web pages

Canmore Site Record

On display

national museum of scotland »
level -1 »
scotland galleries »
early people »
melting rocks, forging metal »
l002

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