Celtic or Viking Brooch? Advice please!

[PaddyB]

I bought a job lot of coins at an auction recently and included in it was this brooch, loosely described as "Celtic" though to my eye looks more Viking.
Measures approx 30mm across and the bulk is Bronze but I can see traces of gold in most of the channels, so I suspect it originally had a gold foil covering.
Anyone able to throw more light on the era it comes from? The auction was here in the UK and the hammered coins that came with it were all British, so I imagine it was found in the UK. (The coins span from Henry III to Edward VI so I don't think they give much of a clue.)

 

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[Professor of Engineering]

Interesting piece, sure hope someone has a definitive answer on the item.

 

[Channon]

You’d have to find an estimated age somehow. The Vikings and Celts lived in the same areas and mix a lot. The Viking age was very short though. That alone makes it more likely to be Celtic

 

[Jose The Goon]

Nice find PaddyB. Interesting to say the least. I'm sure "CRUSADER" will chime in soon with a very respected opinion on the piece.
Cheers !!

 

[JamieD]

The construction and decoration looks early medieval to me, if it was uk found I’d say Anglo-Saxon and probably early (6th-8th century). Decoration looks chip carved and would have been gilt which is typical for early Anglo-Saxon. Could be Viking/Scandinavian but it doesn’t look to me like later (uk Viking era) work.

 

[Javadroid]

It's a terrific piece, to be sure, and I'm also betting Crusader will have an experienced opinion on it. All I can say is, I like it very much! Congrats and cheers to ya mate!

 

[PaddyB]

I have had some other people looking at this in other forums. The current favourite, including from an opinion from an archaeologist in the UK, is Early Anglo-Saxon - probably 4th Century in imitation of Scandinavian Viking material.
I wish it could tell me it's history!

 

[Hawks88]

Very interesting find. Sorry can’t help with the ID.

 

[Rubka888]

That is an awesome brooch! Was the auction for dug items? Like it was someones metal detecting collection?

 

[PaddyB]

That is an awesome brooch! Was the auction for dug items? Like it was someones metal detecting collection?

It wasn't exactly described as "dug items" but it gave the impression of bits that someone had gathered over a number of years and treasured. As well as the featured brooch there was an Edward VI shilling from around 1551 in reasonable condition, a Henry III penny broken in half and stuck back together with sticky tape, and a tiny Edward I Farthing from London. The Henry III penny proved, when I got it out of it's tape, to be a reverse double strike from Canterbury so interesting, though of low value because of the break.
I collect coins, so the Edward VI shilling was the main attraction to me, but I bumped up the bidding a bit in the hope the brooch would prove interesting - and it has!

 

[JamieD]

Are you sure the archaeologist said 4th century Anglo-Saxon? I didn’t think the Anglo-Saxon period started til the 5th!

Anyway, nice auction find, sounds like you got a bargain.

 

[A2coins]

i wish those anglo saxons hung out around here

 

[Rookster]

Congrats. That a nice piece of history.

 

[CRUSADER]

As pointed out an Anglo-Saxon 6th C AD Disc Brooch. Very nice find (Auction) indeed - CONGRATS

 

[PaddyB]

Thanks @Crusader - 6th century makes much more sense than 4th century I got from another source.

Now all I have to do is decide what I want to do with it!

 

[CRUSADER]

Thanks @Crusader - 6th century makes much more sense than 4th century I got from another source.

Now all I have to do is decide what I want to do with it!

https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/06/eue.html

The tricky bit about this period (Little is known) of chipped carved decoration is that some like this one have elements of stylized animals similar to those produced in Scandinavia at the time. Because this is part of the migration period this could well have been brought over or made by settled people, so you could call it 'Anglo-Scandinavian', although the bulk of the settlers were thought to be Germanic. However, this phrase is not usually used until the Late Saxon/Viking period. So although I called it Anglo-Saxon, its probably safer to call it;
6th C AD Chip Carved Disc Brooch

 

[JenniferT]

Nice finding and unique collection of coins.