Mystery Anglo-Saxon object found at Langham baffles experts
30th December 2023
By Katy Prickett
BBC News, Norfolk
Andrew Williams/Norfolk County Council
Andrew Williams/Norfolk County Council
The object uses a design popular in the Anglo-Saxon period and has a "backward-looking animal" - possibly a horse
A gilded silver Anglo-Saxon object "made by someone with a real eye for loveliness" has the experts baffled.
The beautifully made, slightly crumpled 19.4mm (0.7in) diameter artefact was found by a metal detectorist near Langham, Norfolk.
Historian Helen Geake said while similar objects had been found before, no-one knew what they were used for.
"It's so tiny and yet it was created just as carefully as something like a Bible or piece of jewellery," she said.
A gilded silver Anglo-Saxon object "made by someone with a real eye for loveliness" has the experts baffled.
The beautifully made, slightly crumpled 19.4mm (0.7in) diameter artefact was found by a metal detectorist near Langham, Norfolk.
Historian Helen Geake said while similar objects had been found before, no-one knew what they were used for.
"It's so tiny and yet it was created just as carefully as something like a Bible or piece of jewellery," she said.
Andrew Williams/Norfolk County Council
One of the object's 8.5mm (0.3in) sides is bent inwards, resulting in a crack, but it has survived more than 1,000 years in the soil
The object has a flat, circular top and short, straight sides forming a shallow, hollow cylinder.
Dating to the late 8th or early 9th Century, it was also "completely unlike" any of the other similar mystery objects discovered by detectorists, said Dr Geake, Norfolk's finds liaison officer.
"On the sides is a spiral pattern recognisable from the Book of Kells or Lindisfarne Gospel," she said.
"It has got a backward-looking animal - possibly a horse - that fills the space nicely and I love its colour. A lot of the time we don't see the colours of the past because clothes don't survive and enamels drop out of settings."
The object has a flat, circular top and short, straight sides forming a shallow, hollow cylinder.
Dating to the late 8th or early 9th Century, it was also "completely unlike" any of the other similar mystery objects discovered by detectorists, said Dr Geake, Norfolk's finds liaison officer.
"On the sides is a spiral pattern recognisable from the Book of Kells or Lindisfarne Gospel," she said.
"It has got a backward-looking animal - possibly a horse - that fills the space nicely and I love its colour. A lot of the time we don't see the colours of the past because clothes don't survive and enamels drop out of settings."
Dr Helen Geake said it revealed how "really multi-skilled" Anglo-Saxon craftsmen were
Its creator would have mixed mercury, imported from Spain, with powdered gold to highlight the animal within the design.
The craftsman would have been "really multi-talented and doing lots of different things".
"We do have evidence that gold and silversmiths were also doing illuminations in manuscripts at this time, for example," Dr Geake said.
Whatever it was used for - and one possibility could be it was intended for the end of a staff, which has long since rotten away - a great deal of highly skilled work went into its creation.
Dr Geake said: "It's a mysterious object and you can't say what kind of thing it's off at all.
"But it was made by someone with a real eye for loveliness."
The find was declared treasure by a coroner and Norwich Castle Museum hopes to acquire it.
Its creator would have mixed mercury, imported from Spain, with powdered gold to highlight the animal within the design.
The craftsman would have been "really multi-talented and doing lots of different things".
"We do have evidence that gold and silversmiths were also doing illuminations in manuscripts at this time, for example," Dr Geake said.
Whatever it was used for - and one possibility could be it was intended for the end of a staff, which has long since rotten away - a great deal of highly skilled work went into its creation.
Dr Geake said: "It's a mysterious object and you can't say what kind of thing it's off at all.
"But it was made by someone with a real eye for loveliness."
The find was declared treasure by a coroner and Norwich Castle Museum hopes to acquire it.
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