Copper-alloy, 9.41 grams, 35.25 mm. 5th-6th century. The finial from a high-status warriors sword chape, cast as a u-shaped fitting extending on the outer and inner faces of the chape. The lower portion of the fitting acts as a pad when the scabbard rests on the ground, the lowest point being formed as a discoid lobe on a D-section bar which extends before and behind the chape to an expanded attachment plate. The decorated plate is formed as a human male mask flanked by birds. The face is of a mature male with bilinear beard and moustache, with rectilinear nose and eyes. The hair is modelled combed back from the brow, as seen for example on the bronze shield fittings from Vimose (Denmark) and the male faces on the Sutton Hoo Mound 1 whetstone. The beard radiates from beneath the moustache to define the boundary between the D-section bar and the figure's arms, which are modelled as bird-heads with roundel eyes and beaks adjacent to the face's cheeks. The rivet holes are placed within the curves of the birds' necks. The beard, moustache and beaks are modelled as billeted or segmented lines and there are traces of radiating lines of punched dots on the birds' necks. The iconography of animal transformation is documented in Iron Age Germanic art with a human figure flanked by extremities with animal characteristics - most notably on the buckle from Aker (Norway). The motif of the stern male face between two birds must recall the representation of Woden (Norse Óðinn) with his two avian spies (Norse Huginn and Muninn) who report news to him. The association of the war-god's face with an item of military equipment evokes the mysteries surrounding membership of the Anglo-Saxon gedriht or troop of warriors dedicated to the god. References: Franceschi, G., Jorn, A. and Magnus, B. Mennesker, Guder og Masker in Nordisk Jernalderkunst, Band 1, Valby, 2005 pl.56, 70, 71; Campbell, J. The Anglo-Saxons,London, 1991 pl.69; Pollington, S. The English Warrior from Earliest Times Till 1066, Hockwold-cum-Wilton, 2001, p.50-7, 178. Good very fine condition, an historically important piece. Provenance: found near Burnham Market, Norfolk, England in 1976. This item is accompanied by an XRF ancient metal test certificate from Oxford X-ray Fluorescence Ltd.