Backward-Looking Beast Disc Brooch
This one started, as they often do, with me scrolling through the Portable Antiquities Scheme database when I should have been doing something else.
The Original
PAS record NMS-942630 is a Late Saxon copper-alloy disc brooch from Norfolk, dated somewhere between AD 900 and 1066. The design is a backward-looking beast — spiky mane, open jaws, forked tail curling up over its back — surrounded by a border of 28 pellets. Ring-and-dot eye. Ring-and-dots on the breast and haunches. Four legs, three toes each.
What caught my attention (besides the fact that it’s just a great little beast) is that this brooch is one of eight mould-identical examples found across Norfolk. Same mould, different findspots. So somebody was making these in quantity, and people were buying them. That’s a rabbit hole about Late Saxon production and trade I haven’t gone down yet, but it’s sitting there waiting for me.
What I Did
Lost wax cast in bronze. The pellet border was fussier than I expected — I wanted them even enough to look intentional but not so perfect they looked machine-made. I’m… mostly happy with how that turned out.
The beast ended up with a bit more attitude than the original. I’m calling that a feature.
References
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