silver-gilt, 9.89 grams, 30.11 mm. 8th-9th century AD. A crisply cast hollow pyramidal strap-distributor of Middle Saxon date. The domed central section consists of four keystone-shaped panels with scrolled infill, gilded, set between rectangular columns with decoration of offset triangles filled with niello, some of which remains, to form a silvery zigzag on a glossy black background. The circular flange is decorated with a running guilloche motif, pierced in four places for attachment rivets. The dome is surmounted by a silver collar which would have accommodated a disc of bone or other organic material; the inset circle is also pierced; the flange partly hammered. Reference: West. S. A Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Finds From Suffolk, East Anglian Archaeology 84, Ipswich, 1998 p.4 item 2.1 and p.118 fig.2. Good very fine condition. Provenance: from an old English collection, found over 50 years ago, findspot unknown.