Copper-alloy, 4.22 grams, 35.72 mm. 2nd century AD. A cast copper-alloy plaque in the form of a dolphin with enamel cells to the upper surface. The triangular body and crescentic tail are filled with white enamel with circular depressions, and the eyes are filled with red enamel. The mouth is lozenge-shaped and a fin extends above the head. The form of the mount imitates a class of enamelled plate brooch in the shape of a fish, often a dolphin, with enamelled panels to the body. Reference: Hattatt, R. Brooches of Antiquity, Oxford, 1987 items 1198-9, 1203. Very fine condition. Provenance: found Cambridgeshire, UK.

Copper-alloy, 8.06 grams, 38.05 mm. 1st-4th century AD. Brooches depicting animals are a known fashion of the Roman Empire, but the present form is very rare: Hattatt cited only twelve examples in 1987, of which four were from France, although further examples are now known. The brooch comprises a reclining leopard depicted with a flat body, but the head and shoulders are modelled in the round, the head positioned so as to face the viewer. The undulating line of the belly indicates that the animal is a female, according to Hattatt. On the beast's back there are recessed circular panels which are filled with coloured enamel: the outer panels are yellow and the middle ones blue. The hindleg, one foreleg and tail were lost in antiquity as on most other known examples. The pin-lug and catchplate are in situ on the reverse. Reference: Hattatt, R. Brooches of Antiquity, Oxford, 1987 item 1196. Very fine condition. Provenance: found near Haverhill, Suffolk, England.

Copper-alloy, 2.18 grams, 28.85 mm. 1st-2nd century AD. The Roman series of zoomorphic brooches includes dogs, fish, birds, hares and horses with a few examples of other animals. The 'pouncing lion' motif is relatively rare in Britain and Hattatt could note only two examples: one tinned from Woodyates (Dorset) and an enamelled one from Wiltshire. The present brooch is perhaps more similar in design to the Dorset example. It has a rounded head with a large circular recess to take an enamel panel for the eye. The profile has a spiked section along the neck and a ribbed collar representing the mane, the front leg stretched forward and the hindleg extending backwards, the tail erect. The body bears a panel of russet enamel and the eye recess was filled with the same material, now mostly degraded to a creamy white. The hinge lug and catchplate are almost complete; the pin was lost in antiquity. Hattatt associated this style of brooch with the British Durotriges tribe which inhabited the southwest and dated the type to the late 1st or early 2nd century AD before the formalizing Roman influence had made the flowing animal form rather stiff and formal. Reference: Hattatt, R. Brooches of Antiquity, Oxford, 1987 item 1193. Very fine condition. Provenance: found near Colchester, Essex, England.

Copper alloy, 6.96 grams; 40.86 mm. Circa 2nd Century A.D. Derivative type bird in fight/fly brooch. The body can be interpreted as either the bird or fly, for the bird it’s obvious that the wings are spread out to the side of the protruding head and neck getting narrower towards the tail which, if looked at from the birds head back is again very obviously a fly. Decorated with yellow and green enameled cells and silvering this is a very rare and interesting brooch with no similarities being listed in Richard Hattatt’s Ancient Brooches. Extremely Fine condition and with pin. Found Bury St Edmund's, Suffolk.

Copper-alloy, 2.80 grams, 25.56 mm. Circa 2nd-4th century AD. A sea monster brooch with a fish body and horse foreparts. The body has multiple crescents that form the scales and are inlayed with nielo, the neck and legs are detailed with incised lines. Reference: Iron Age and Roman Brooches by Richard Hattatt, page 176; brooch 627. A good example complete with pin and in very fine condition. Ex old English collection.