1st Century Dragonesque Brooch..

[Silver Searcher]

We hit the Roman Villa field today it had been deep ploughed and it was as flat as a pancake, so we were expecting a new lease of finds since we have been hitting this field for 7 years now, alas it was not to be.

To say the going was tough would be a under statement, most of the signals were tiny pieces of lead and the odd Roman Bronze coin and mostly well battered, but I did manage a nice Magnentius AE, the only second coin of this ruler. Michael had the only Silver of the day, a Septimus Severus Denarius. Right on top of the Villa area I had a nice Roman nail cleaner with some really nice patina, we decided to have a break about 12.30 and walking of the field in a quite area I had a Complete 1st century Dragonesque Brooch but minus the pin.


The Brooch must have been brought up by the deep ploughing because it has a very heavy build up of iron from the soil were it's been laying for the better part of 2000 years . Some thing else unusual about the Brooch is it's size only 25mm in length, I'm wondering if it was made for a child.

SS

 

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[Silver Searcher]

I'd say any of the four would make my day, getting the big bronze or the silver is top notch. Though the two relics are just total icing I think, the brooch is a killer find and the nail cleaner is a first rate relic.
You said that the nail cleaner had a loop, would it be open or closed, and are ear wax cleaners similar?

It could be a open or closed loop depends how it was cast, a ear cleaner would have went with it as part of the cosmetic set. Some were very simply made like the one below, some were quite elaborate.

PepperJ....I have posted a side view of the nail cleaner, it shows a bit better the loop were broke.

SS

 

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[treblehunter]

Sorry, my head is still reeling from your statement and your "sad face smiley"
If that is a bad day, then you are a spoiled brat.
I would go bananas over a 1700's silver coin, your having a bad day with a 194 AD coin and whatever date that silver is?
The pin, the nail-cleaner? Hate to see what you would do on a day that you got skunked?

Those are great finds, you should be ashamed of yourself and have a little gratitude! lol jk

 

[I-DIG-IT]

Nice digs.

 

[Silver Searcher]

Sorry, my head is still reeling from your statement and your "sad face smiley"
If that is a bad day, then you are a spoiled brat.
I would go bananas over a 1700's silver coin, your having a bad day with a 194 AD coin and whatever date that silver is?
The pin, the nail-cleaner? Hate to see what you would do on a day that you got skunked?

Those are great finds, you should be ashamed of yourself and have a little gratitude! lol jk

The sad smiley face was for the fact that this site is now just about finished we have been waiting for this deep plough to hopefully revive it, but it hasn't. We have been doing it now for nearly 7 years, and doubt we will ever find another that is nearly half as good... The sad smiley really is for the end of the era of the Villa field, but we will visit it from time to time and it might still surprise us.

I did once say a while back that this field spoilt us/me, when you have a area like this, and the items it produced over the years, you expect it on every field you detect and you set your standards by it, which was wrong....Yes you are right I am spoilt, and this field did it.

This is a rough count of what it produced over the years.

6 of my Banner finds have come from this permission..

First the rare items.. Harold11 Saxon Penny, Alexander11(Scottish hammered) cut half.. Celic Gold inscribed stater of Velicius dumnacoverous, 4 dragonesque brooches (two complete)... Edward 111 silver hoard.

Over 2 hundred Hammered including broken ones.
More than 60 roman silvers including the broken ones.
I have lost count of the bronze romans coins (probably close to 1000)
Roman brooches and fragments over 100, countless artifacts and partifacts, buckles mounts I could go on.
So you will have to forgive my sad smiley, you can understand that it's the end of a great area.

SS

 

[CRUSADER]

The sad smiley face was for the fact that this site is now just about finished we have been waiting for this deep plough to hopefully revive it, but it hasn't. We have been doing it now for nearly 7 years, and doubt we will ever find another that is nearly half as good... The sad smiley really is for the end of the era of the Villa field, but we will visit it from time to time and it might still surprise us.

I did once say a while back that this field spoilt us/me, when you have a area like this, and the items it produced over the years, you expect it on every field you detect and you set your standards by it, which was wrong....Yes you are right I am spoilt, and this field did it.

This is a rough count of what it produced over the years.

6 of my Banner finds have come from here..

First the rare items.. Harold11 Saxon Penny, Alexander11(Scottish hammered) cut half.. Celic Gold inscribed stater of Velicius dumnacoverous, 4 dragonesque brooches (two complete)... Edward 111 silver hoard.

Over 2 hundred Hammered including broken ones.
More than 60 roman silvers including the broken ones.
I have lost count of the bronze romans coins (probably close to 1000)
Roman brooches and fragments over 100, countless artifacts and partifacts, buckles mounts I could go on.
So you will have to forgive my sad smiley, you can understand that it's the end of a great area.

SS



SS

IT will surprise you, just let it rest & as long as you cover it all, you will be very surprised by what you both missed. When we returned to that field recently (the one with the cleaned up silver), I was not looking forward to it. We have really gridded it to death over more than 7 years, & some sites for more than 10.

 

[Silver Searcher]

IT will surprise you, just let it rest & as long as you cover it all, you will be very surprised by what you both missed. When we returned to that field recently (the one with the cleaned up silver), I was not looking forward to it. We have really gridded it to death over more than 7 years, & some sites for more than 10.

I know what your saying, but that field really takes it out of me now, body wise. But we will let it settle, it will compact down over the next few weeks and before the crop gets to high, we will hit it again.

SS

 

[BurntBear]

WOW! Cheers on the excellent finds! -Luke

 

[Iron Patch]

Sometimes that build up is a good thing because it protects the find so well.... and looks like that's what happened there. I know it doesn't bother me seeing it on buttons because I know they have a chance to clean up nice.

 

[Silver Searcher]

Sometimes that build up is a good thing because it protects the find so well.... and looks like that's what happened there. I know it doesn't bother me seeing it on buttons because I know they have a chance to clean up nice.

This one looks quite bad, I managed to remove some were the bottom head was completely closed up, but I'm afraid to mess about to much with it as it's so small, it's like compacted iron particles from the soil.

SS

 

[BurntBear]

Would an ultrasonic cleaner damage it?

 

[housemom6]

You always find the coolest stuff!. It's just amazing.

 

[Silver Searcher]

Would an ultrasonic cleaner damage it?

That's one of the questions you know the answer to, after you have tried. I think I will try a long olive oil soak first.

SS

 

[CRUSADER]

That's one of the questions you know the answer to, after you have tried. I think I will try a long olive oil soak first.

SS

Yeah, something you want to test with a piece of similar 'scrap' material first, but it would be hard to find that build up on anything else.

 

[Silver Searcher]

Yeah, something you want to test with a piece of similar 'scrap' material first, but it would be hard to find that build up on anything else.

A small piece of the iron build up did break away to the base metal bronze, and it doesn't look stable.

SS