Fibula?

rebbel31 · Jul 15, 2018

Not sure what it is? Fibula or old nose picker? Found in a field in Bavaria near a medieval town. Age estimate would be awesome too. Thanks for the help.

CRUSADER · Jul 19, 2018

namxat said:
Maybe...

a roman or later Stylus. Sharp end to scribble into wax tablets, hook end to erase.

https://www.antiquesnavigator.com/d-2979099/stylus--ancient-roman-bronze-stylus--writing-tool-a.html

Greets Namxat

It crossed my mind (as well as SS's suggestion of an ear scoop) but the patina doesn't sit well with me, in terms of being Roman. I think its post-medieval & Jan has the most compelling evidence so far....

namxat · Jul 20, 2018

CRUSADER said:
It crossed my mind (as well as SS's suggestion of an ear scoop) but the patina doesn't sit well with me, in terms of being Roman. I think its post-medieval & Jan has the most compelling evidence so far....

Well, you have a point. It´s corroded rather than patinated.

On the other hand I am under the impression that today with all the agricutural chemistry and liquid manure, things start to corrode in ploughland that have been nice and green for a long time. I have seen a tutulus fibula (I do not have to explain this to you, since you detect roman stuff by stone-weight) that was worse like the obejct in question: all reddish and pitted.

I am not fixed on the stylus identification, either. I is an open loop on one end which is deemed impractical by me, should be more spatula like. For some reason, the link of Jan does not work for me.