Gold, 2.05 grams, 14.13 mm. 9th-11th century AD. A braid decoration formed as a flat gold plate about 1mm thick with a slight border to one edge, twisted about its own axis into a hollow tube and bent round into a u-shape. It may have served as a braid decoration for the hair, but the sheer ends suggest that the item was subsequently cut up as 'hack' to be circulated as bullion. Reference: cf. twisted gold finger ring in Backhouse, J., Turner, D.H., Webster, L. The Golden Age of Anglo-Saxon Art 966-1066, London, 1984 p.98 item 87. Very fine condition. Provenance: from an old English collection, found continental Europe.