Ancient Roman Animal Brooches for Sale
Brooches were worn by the native British people before the Roman invasion. This means that brooches of the Roman period in Britain show a mixture of both British and Classical styles. Brooches were not just for decoration. They also had a practical use of securing clothing, in particular cloaks and tunics, and worked in a similar way to modern day safety pins. This meant that brooches were worn by both male and female as both sexes would have needed to secure their clothes. Popular animal shapes included birds, hares, hounds, horses and fish. Many of these animals are thought to have had symbolic importance during the Roman period.
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| | Romano-British 'Dolphin' Bow Brooch 011464 | Romano-British ‘Dolphin’ Bow Brooch Copper-alloy, 13.42 grams, 43.10 mm. 1st-4th century AD. Bow brooches moulded as dolphins are known from the early and late Roman periods in Britain, where they occur alongside the more normal plate brooch zoomorphs. The present example is carefully modelled with a rolled upper lip, scale detailing on the body, erect ribbed fin and ribbed, forked tail. The sturdy pin is fused to the spring lugs and catchplate. Reference: cf. Hattatt, R. Ancient Brooches and Other Artefacts, Oxford, 1989, p.246-7, item 1200. Very fine condition. Provenance: found Maldon, Essex. | £120.00  |  |
| | | Roman 'Peacock' Brooch 010928 | Beautiful Roman 'Peacock' Brooch Copper alloy, 4.56 grams; 29.30 mm. Circa 2nd Century A.D. A very scarce plate brooch in the form of a peacock, the tail feathers are decorated in multiple circles of niello inlay, this then follows on through to the head with all the detailing being made up from niello. The head has a small crest with a massive ring and dot eye and small beak. Ref: Benets Artefacts of England & the United Kingdom, R07-0553; Richard Hattatt’s Ancient Brooches, 1171. The examples shown in this reference are all with enamel inlay not niello. Scarce brooch with pin and in Good Very Fine condition. Found Haverhill, Suffolk. | £425.00 |  |
| | Roman 'Dolphin' Bow Brooch 010910 | Rare Roman 'Dolphin' Bow Brooch Copper alloy, 15.83 grams; 51.88 mm. Circa 2nd – 3rd Century A.D. Bow brooch with dolphin form body, large catch plate and hinge pin. Heavily silvered body with tail in the form of two joined crescents, pointed snout and small fins. A scarce brooch in Extremely Fine condition, complete with pin and with most of the original silvering. Only a single example shown in Hattatt. Found near Ipswich, Suffolk. | £195.00 |  |
| | Roman 'Bird in Flight' Brooch 010889 | Extremely Rare Roman 'Bird in Flight' Brooch 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. | £375.00 |  |
| | Roman 'Hippocampus' Brooch 012769 | Rare Roman 'Hippocampus' Brooch 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. | £285.00 |  |
| | RT 010897 | Extremely Rare Roman 'Lion' Brooch Copper alloy, 8.22 grams; 40.49 mm. Circa 2nd Century. Representation of a lion walking to the right. There are eight enamel circular cells on the body which are green and orange in colour, the mane is represented by two ridges with incised wavy lines, large ear and long tail. Ref: Celtic & Roman Artefacts by Nigel Mills, RB141. Rare and complete with pin in Extremely Fine condition. Found near Baylem House, Norfolk. | £495.00 |  |
| | RT 010926 | Extremely Rare Roman 'Crouching Boar' Brooch Copper alloy, 6.27 grams; 37.02 mm. Circa 2nd Century A.D. Rare British brooch depicting a well detailed crouching boar facing right as if getting ready to attack, decorated with round enamel cells of white and green, curly tail and full mane swept back. Ref: Benets Artefacts of England & the United Kingdom, R07-0541; page 140. This type of brooch without a pin was booking from £400 in 2003 as stated in Benets. Extremely Fine condition with pin. Found Thetford, Norfolk. | £475.00 |  |
| | RL 006291 | Extemely Rare Roman 'Sea Monster' Brooch Copper alloy, 7.88 grams, 39.78 mm. Circa 2nd Century A.D. An extremely rare representation of a sea monster with a crescent-shaped body with lunette panel and keystone segments of red and blue enamel. Ref: Celtic and Roman Artefact by Nigel Mills page 60, R154. Good Very Fine condition. Found Eastern Europe. | £385.00 |  |
| | RL 00100 | Roman 'Animal' Brooch Bronze, 9.93 grams; 39.73 mm. A smart 5th Century 'equal arm' brooch with two sytlized horse heads facing towards the centre. Iron pin no longer present, beautiful patination and in Extremely Fine condition. | £35.00 |  |
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