A remarkable find

[HELEN S]

  I would like to treat you to a find that a fellow detectorist found yesterday and I think it is the most stunning thing I have seen in a long time PLEASE ENJOY

[HELEN S]

 

 If anyone has an idea of the age of this brooch with its vibrant colours I would be most thankful as not identified as yet Thank you for your time and expertise.

[HELEN S]

 This has been identified as Roman I am so pleased for the owner how happy he must be

[Tony A]

Helen -

It is a truly remarkable find and one of the best preserved brooches found anywhere from the Roman period. Imagine an almost completely in-tact artifact lying in the wet ground, frozen, thawed and baked in the heat countless times over 16 centuries and it STILL has retained it's vibrant colors. Just amazing in my opinion!

Tony

[HELEN S]

Helen -

It is a truly remarkable find and one of the best preserved brooches found anywhere from the Roman period. Imagine an almost completely in-tact artifact lying in the wet ground, frozen, thawed and baked in the heat countless times over 16 centuries and it STILL has retained it's vibrant colors. Just amazing in my opinion!

Tony

 Thank  you Tony for your comment I am amazed that although it has been viewed over 100 times there have been no comments about this blast from the past. Of course I understand that many of the forum members have a love for coins but to see something like this appear back into todays world is in my mind a truly unique thing and I just wanted to share it.

[SC]

Helen,

It is a great find.  I have been looking for a parallel but with no luck so far.  I am no expert on British fibulae and this is clearly a Romano-British type.  It appears to be an early enameled bow fibula, earlier perhaps than the usual Celtic trumpet design.

I have never seen enamel that vibrant.  Frankly it makes me worry.  Is it that bright because the finder was incredibly lucky or does such enamel quickly fade when exposed to the air and that is why we don't see more today?  It should really receive some expert care to determine if it needs any stabilization.  Will waxing assist by isolating the enamel from the environment or will it harm it?  I don't know.

It would also be great to show it to an art historian knowledgeable in that era.  Is the vibrant, today one would say garish, colouring typical of Roman, Romano-British or purely British-Celtic?  To me it screams Celtic but I am not expert.

Shawn

[Arados]

Hi Helen,

Facinating find !

A beautiful and truly remarkable find, although i am not an expert on fibula brooches, my first impression was Roman but the condition of enameling throw me of track.

The brooch is in fantastic condition considering the length of time it has spent under the earth, there are many broochs of similarity on the net but nothing comes close in comparison colour wise.

In what part of the country was it found and at what depth Helen ?

All the best
Martin

[Adrian W]

Wow they certainly liked bright colors back then as looks like it would stand out a mile away.

What a great piece to find.

[HELEN S]

 

 Thanks for all the comments on this find I will ask the finder how deep it was and get an answer as it is of interest to me as well also where the dig was as I didn't accompany them on this particular dig
. Hopefully we will have some answers soon as it has gone to York museum and so a date may emerge but as you have commented the colours are so vibrant to have lasted all this time buried. Here is a photo of how it looked when it was found. No one expected it to glow when washed in just water how amazing was that

[theemptytrunk]

A beautiful relic!