Copper-alloy gilt, 51.68 grams, 131 mm. 5th-6th century AD. A cast copper-alloy great square-headed brooch of sub-group iii with rectangular headplate, shallow bow and lozengiform foot. The headplate has a square panel above the bow bearing a Style I animal, flanked by wings (one present) formed with zoomorphic elements and a plain outer border. The bow is provided with raised edges, a central strip and square stud. The footplate is lozengiform, with addorsed animal-head lappets at the junction with the bow and segmented borders running to the terminal. A pair of discoid plates (one missing) form the side-lobes and a larger one forms the terminal lobe. The surface retains some gilding. On the reverse, the pin-lug and catchplate are in place. The brooch's surface is detailed with Style I motifs and the designs are modelled clearly. Reference: cf. the examples from Lechlade grave 57 (headplate masks), Great Chesterford (lobes), Broughton Lodge (bow), Berinsfield grave 107 (footplate) in Hines, J. A New Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Great Square-Headed Brooches, Woodbridge, 1997 plates 8b, 53a, 77a, 92a. Fine condition, repaired. Provenance: found County Durham.

Copper-alloy, 4.21 grams, 33.75 mm. 5th-6th century AD. The small square-headed brooch is a diminutive version of the great square-headed type, with decorative headplate, shallow bow and lozengiform footplate. The present example has Style I detail in the centre of the headplate and on the finial of the footplate. The pin-lug and catchplate are present on the reverse. Reference: MacGregor, A. & Bolick, E. A Summary Catalogue of the Anglo-Saxon Collections (Non-Ferrous Metals), BAR British Series 230, 1993, p.123 items 14.7. Very fine condition with most of the original gilding intact. Provenance: found Winchester, England.

Copper-alloy, 51.70 grams, 134.5 mm. 6th century AD. An elaborate great square-headed brooch of Hines's Group XIII. The trapezoidal headplate is divided into three fields. At the centre above the bow is a plain rectangular raised panel with bevelled edges surrounded by a narrow border with punched pellet decoration. Outside this is a field of sinuous meander patterning within a simple raised border. Around this is a field of billeted bands with rectangles in the upper corners, decorated with punched pellets; this field is pierced by a series of round apertures in imitation of the openwork type of headplate. The outer border is decorated with punched pellets along the lower, lateral and upper edges; around the rectangular corner panels the punchmarks are formed as roundels with a bifurcated extension. The shallow bow features substantial median and lateral ribs extending to two curved animal-head upper extensions above a cruciform footplate. The median rib bears punched pellet detailing, separating two symmetrical sub-triangular elements with Style I animal decoration, outside wich are plain pear-shaped panels. There are four circular piercings in the animal-head details. A pelleted frame extends from the lower jaw of the animal heads to surround the sub-triangular and pear-shaped panels and the discoid finial lobe. A broad transverse bar separates the lower lobe from the rest of the footplate. The heavy gilding is substantially present across a large part of the surface. The catchplate is fixed to a strengthening rib on the reverse, and the spring-lugs are present with the partial remains of the iron pin still in place. References: Hines, J. A New Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Great Square-Headed Brooches, London, 1997 p.103ff and pl.43b; cf. Neville, R.C. Saxon Obsequies Illustrated by Ornaments and Weapons Discovered by the Hon. R.C. Neville in a Cemetery Near Little Wilbraham, Cambridgeshire During the Autumn of 1851, London, 1852, pl.10 no.158. Published: Hammond, Brett. British Artefacts, volume I - Early Anglo-Saxon. Some repair but overall in beautiful condition. Provenance: from an old 19th century collection, found Cambridgeshire. This lot is accompanied by an XRF ancient metal test certificate from Oxford X-ray Fluorescence Ltd.

Copper-alloy gilt, 2.30/7.23 grams, 24.18/31.73 mm. 5th-6th century AD. Two fragments from a great square-headed brooch. The first is a portion of the footplate complete with one of the lateral lobes and the animal-head element above it, decorated with zoomorphic patterns in the classic three-band Style I format. The second was probably originally part of the headplate, but has been pierced as if the brooch broke in antiquity and the more decorative portions were re-used as pendants; it features a Style I three-band animal. The gilding on both parts is very solid, the surfaces are very detailed and the designs are still clear. Reference: cf. the design of the example from Alveston Manor in Hines, J. A New Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Great Square-Headed Brooches, Woodbridge, 1997 plate 1(b) and Pollington. S., Kerr, L. and Hammond, B. Wayland's Work - Anglo-Saxon Art, Myth and Material Culture from the 4th to the 7th Century, Swaffham, 2010. Very fine condition. Provenance: from an old English collection, found Stamford Bridge, Yorkshire, England.