Silver, 7.32 grams, 17.53 mm. Circa 6th century AD. A flat-section sheet silver bracelet with tapering ends, decorated on the edges with punched-point roundels. The central row of punched points splits to join the outer rows at each end, and is contained within incised lines with feathered ends. The size of the bracelet (inner diameter maximum 31 mm) indicates that it was intended for a child. Reference: cf. sheet silver bracelet from Barrington A cemetery, Cambridgeshire, in MacGregor, A. & Bolick, E. A Summary Catalogue of the Anglo-Saxon Collections (Non-Ferrous Metals), Oxford, 1993 item 26.13. Very fine condition. Provenance: from an old Thetford collection, acquired in 1981.

Glass and amber, 8.81 grams including thread, 6.73-13.53 mm. Circa 5th-7th century AD. A group of Anglian decorative beads normally worn by high-status females on the chest, strung between penannular or small-long brooches. The group comprises: a dark blue hoop with red, white and pale blue inserts; a dark blue short melon bead; an amber D-section bead; a translucent pale green hoop; a large white (faience?) melon bead; a translucent green spiral hoop; a small triangular-section amber bead; a dark blue melon bead; a dark blue hoop with green and red inserts. The beads were recovered from the Catterick area (Yorkshire) which is usually identified as the site of the late 6th or early 7th century battle of Catraeth immortalized in the Old Welsh poem Y Gododdin in which a troop of three hundred horsemen from the fortress of Din Eidyn attacked an unnamed but overwhelming enemy force and was wiped out. The case has been made for the British horsemen having set off from the area of modern Edinburgh to attack an Anglian (English) stronghold, although the poem does not mention either the location of the battle or the name of the enemy. Reference: cf. the glass bead forms in Brugmann, B. Glass Beads from Early Anglo-Saxon Graves, Oxford, 2004 and discussion of the poem in Cessford, C. Where are the Anglo-Saxons in the Gododdin poem? in Anglo-Saxon Studies in Archaeology and History, vol. 8, Oxford, 1995. Very fine condition. Provenance: found Catterick, North Yorkshire, England.

Silver, 1.06 grams, 27.10 mm. 5th-6th century AD. A sheet silver pendant in form of a crescent with double-dot punchmarks around the outer edge. A central domed roundel is embossed from the reverse, with punched billet decoration around the edge. The suspension loop was lost in antiquity. Reference: MacGregor, A. & Bolick, E. A Summary Catalogue of the Anglo-Saxon Collections (Non-Ferrous Metals), Oxford, 1993, p.159 item 24.10. Very fine condition. Provenance: from an old English collection, found East Yorkshire 1983.

Silver, 2.83 grams in cardboard sleeve, 23.65 mm. 5th-6th century AD. A delicate sheet silver pendant of classic Anglian form. The central boss is surrounded by six radiating cross-hatched triangular punchmarks; a series of punched pellets is placed around the rim. Scutiform (i.e. 'shield-shaped') pendants were worn as amulets by Germanic women as a means of evoking the protection of their menfolk. Reference: Bruns, D. Germanic Equal Arm Brooches of the Migration Period, BAR Series, London, 2003 and cf. MacGregor, A. & Bolick, E. A Summary Catalogue of the Anglo-Saxon Collections (Non-Ferrous Metals), Oxford, 1993, p.162 items 25.3,4,5. Very fine condition, small part missing. Provenance: from an old English collection, found continental Europe.

Copper-alloy, crystal and glass, 9.38 grams, 34.41 mm. 6th-7th century AD. A finely-made D-shaped fitting from the flap of a purse. The copper-alloy base is decorated with a geometric pattern executed in cloisonné, with intricately cut glass panels forming an interlocking curvilinear design in clear, dark blue and cupric green shades. The central element is a D-shaped cell containing a shaped and polished crystal; this is surrounded by a single cell of the same shape, now empty but originally filled with an organic material, probably polished bone. The design is surrounded by a gilded border consisting of a vertical wall with a horizontal ropework flange. On the reverse are the remains of two attachment pins. The cellwork is executed with copper-alloy strips of about 3mm height. Similar decorative cloisonné techniques are used on the composite brooch in the Canterbury St. Martins Hoard, associated with the Frankish princess, Bertha, who married into the Kentish royal family in the late 6th century. Reference: Webster, L. & Backhouse, J. The Making of England. Anglo-Saxon Art and Culture AD 600-900, London, 1991, p.23 item 5(f). Provenance: from an old European collection. Very fine condition.

Copper-alloy and organic material, 8.66 grams, 46.52 mm. Circa 5th-6th century AD. A very interesting and unusual Anglo-Saxon pendant made from organic material - either a tusk from a boar, or possibly bone worked into a similar shape. The thicker upper end is encased in copper-alloy strip – a horizontal band around the tusk itself, with a vertical band for suspension, the whole pierced and riveted. The horizontal band is still partly present. The boar was an important symbol to the Anglo-Saxon warrior class, who used its image on their helmets (Benty Grange, Wollaston) and other war-gear; the Old English word eofor ‘boar’ was used figuratively for ‘persistent and determined lone warrior’. Reference: animal teeth mounted as pendants in Chambers, R.A. Oxonensia, vol.40, 1975, p.192. Published: Hammond, Brett British Artefacts, volume I - Early Anglo-Saxon. Extremely rare and in a good state of preservation.

Silver wire and amber, 4.97 grams, 54.75 mm and 5.44 grams, 60.45 mm. 5th - 6th century AD. Two silver-wire circlets with the beads still attached. One comprises five amber discs, while the other carries four amber discs and a tubular bead. The silver-wire has been re-joined. The small size of the beads and circumference of the circlet make these pieces unusual – perhaps intended for a child. Reference: West. S. A Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Finds From Suffolk East Anglian Archaeology 84, Ipswich, 1998 p.176 fig.3. Published: Hammond, Brett. British Artefacts, volume I - Early Anglo-Saxon. Very fine condition. Ex property of the deceased estate of J S N Wright. This antiquity is accompanied by an XRF metal test certificate from Oxford X-ray Fluorescence Ltd.