Galloway Hoard Disc Brooch – Metal Shenanigans

Historical Context

This a silver and copper alloy reproduction of a Galloway Hoard brooch. The original was found by metal detectorists in Scotland in 2014. It is now on display at https://www.nms.ac.uk/explore-our-collections/stories/scottish-history-and-archaeology/galloway-hoard/, and is 67mm in diameter.

This silver and bronze piece is a reproduction Anglo-Saxon Trewhiddle style disc brooch. The original was a valuable ornament and is smaller than this reproduction, which is 82 mm diameter. The hoard was hidden by Viking raiders (or perhaps hidden from raiders), and contained over 100 objects, including arm-rings, ingots, a silver pectoral cross, a gold bird-shaped pin, a lidded vessel, and a large collection of Anglo-Saxon metalwork, and other fascinating items. (National Museum Scotland) It is not really known who or why the items were hidden, but the discovery of this hoard after more than a thousand years is exciting.
The Trewhiddle style of art takes its name from the Trewhiddle Hoard which found in 1774 near Trewhiddle, Cornwall.
The hoard contained a number of objects, including Anglo-Saxon coins, which enabled the hoard to be dated to the ninth century.
The hoard also included a silver flail, a silver chalice, silver mounts and several small silver objects.
Decoration on some of the objects showed carved silver, with niello inlay. The motifs included animal and plant interlace and geometric patterns.

Process

First, I choose exactly which of these fabulous items I wanted to make. This piece actually happened because of a private challenge made between myself and a friend.

I found the museum photos of this brooch, which I downloaded and took off to Staples to print and resize to fit the silver I was given to make this with. Then, I used rubber cement and stuck the printed picture to the silver. Next, I used a punch to mark each of the roughly 32 drill points in each quarter of the brooch. It took a while to drill every one of the 120-130 holes in this piece of silver. (I did not count them all.) My version is larger than the original, because first of all, I choose to use the material given, and secondly because at the time, I did not have a copy of The Galloway Hoard book.

After that, it was purely a matter of sawing and sawing and sawing. It took me about 8-9 hours of solid work, over the course of several days. After that was done, I started trying to file the edges of the cuts, and this is where I ran into problems due to the severe arthritis in my right hand. This made the work of filing very difficult and painful, so I wound up using power tools and metal cutting burrs. I also used this to cut the deep cavities for the niello.

I applied niello by heating the silver until it was hot enough for the metal color to change (it gets slightly brownish, and is probably around 900⁰F), and touching the niello sticks to the silver. That part was really just as easy as using a crayon on a hot surface.

There was extensive clean up required at that point, mostly sanding and filing until the excess niello was removed and the silver was again exposed. I made the mistake of trying to use the niello to emphasis the interlaced areas and highlight the visual depth of the work. This was not successful and detracted from the work, so I went back in and ground all of that away. It resulted in better emphasis of the interlaced appearance. I definitely regard this as a mistake.

I also assembled a bronze back plate — normally, i would simply purchase a piece of bronze or brass, but time got away from me, so I used what I had on hand. The material was only 3 inches wide, and the silver is 3.25 inches across. So, the panel was soldered together. (I regard this back plate construction as an error, to be honest.) Later on, I have replaced this plate entirely, with a peice of commercial bronze.

I cut out five circles of silver, annealed them, and used a dapping block and punches to make semi-hemispherical domes, then soldered the silver wire inside. These became rivets, and were used to assemble the brooch. I also made small sterling silver washers on the underside. This is because I made a mistake and drilled the holes too large, and needed to fix the problem I made for myself.

The pin back is based on the x-ray images printed in the book about the Hoard, which actually doesn’t show this particular brooch, but is a typical style for the time period. The pin back should actually probably be longer than I have made this one, as the photos show that it is visible on one side, but at this point, I am unlikely to dismantle this whole construction just to remake this part again. It’s already huge, and will need a heavy garment to wear it at all.

back plate, not yet polished, showing all the holes required for assembly

Later, I went back and completely disassembled this brooch. I made a new, sturdier pin back that was forged from a single piece of 8 gauge bronze wire, using heat, and a hammer. I did use a rolling mill to form the actual pin section, but the flatter area and the spring and the catch had to be done more by hand than by any mechanical assistance. I made three pins before I was satisfied with what I had.

Exceptions to period practice

Period metal workers would have had to make their own sheet metals rather than buying ready made. Modern saw blades weren’t available in the year 800, and instead the original brooch was probably cut using a tiny chisel (Ogden, 141-144). Beyond that, I also use modern torches and acetylene gas for heating the large piece of silver, a modern flex-shaft machine for sanding and polishing, and a variety of other electrical tools.

All of these exceptions to period practice were due to practical reasons, either financial, time, or physical demands.

Results

All things considered, I’m reasonably happy with this piece. I did take it apart and rebuild everything that wasn’t silver, and made a much better item in the process.

Lessons Learned:

Trying to use niello on the interlacing was a mistake, and I ended up spending more than a few minutes taking that off as much as possible. Some of it still exists, but short of melting it off and damaging the desired niello, as well as allowing the hot lead to literally eat away the silver, I don’t believe it’s coming off. Using niello on those areas eliminated the visual depth of the piece and left it looking very flat.

I am not likely to ever make another piece with so much pierced work. The difficulties with finishing it to an acceptable level, which once wasn’t a problem, are nearly impossible for me now. Due to the extensive cartilage damage in my right hand, I am trying to learn new ways to do all the things I’ve spent most of my life doing right handed. Certain methods are simply too painful to manage now, and it’s not worth the results to try to fight through. I’m still learning what I can and cannot do, and anticipate that will be an ongoing battle.

I do want to experiment with other ways to make the giant rivet heads. Thicker silver is harder to cut than I had remembered. Intricate pierced work is very impressive to look at, but a giant PITA to make. I do not anticipate repeating this particular piece at any time, but if I do, I believe I will try to carve it in wax and use a less expensive material.

After the initial assembly, I disassembled the whole piece to fix the things I did not like. I made a whole new pin back, using 8 gauge bronze wire. Initially, i made the mistake of flattening the section for rivets out using the rolling mill, (which made the section of wire very long but not wide), and didn’t have enough “meat” to make the back wide enough to hold in place. The second try, which was really the third try, was flattened out using forging methods (a ball pein hammer) and frequent annealing (heating the material in order to realign the metal crystals so that the bronze was soft enough to work).

In conclusion, this is a technically simple piece, and as such should have been as difficult as it ended up being. My various mistakes and new physical challenges made it much more of a ordeal than it had any right to be, but the making of it at this time has taught me a great deal about what I can and cannot do readily right now. Otherwise, it is an accurate and reasonable reproduction of the original, which was made in approximately 800AD, and exhibits many of the same imperfections and design flaws that render it less than perfect. There is one error that is all mine, and some techniques vary greatly, but in all, I see this as good as I am currently capable of producing in this manner. It is likely that I will make other pieces from the Galloway Hoard, because at least two others are more compelling to me personally.

Bibliography

Finds Identified, II. ISBN 978-1-897738-64-1. Pg 89, NMS-BECE1C. Kevin Leahy and Michael Lewis; The British Museum. Portable Antiquities Scheme www.finds.org.uk. Greenlight Publishing, Coggeshall, Esses. www.greenlightpublishing.co.uk; C. 2020 PAS

Patel, N. (2020, November 13). How to use a jeweller’s saw. The Bench. https://www.cooksongold.com/blog/learn/how-to-use-a-jewellers-saw/

Nikesh.Patel@cooksongold.com. (2021, November 11). How to Pierce Metal – Christine Pearson. The Bench. https://www.cooksongold.com/blog/learn/a-beginners-tips-and-tools-for-sawing-sheet-metal-2/

Ogden, Jack. Jewelry Technology in the Ancient & Medieval World. Brynmorgen Press, 2023.

“National Museums Scotland.” National Museums Scotland, 2014, www.nms.ac.uk/discover-catalogue/galloway-hoard. Accessed 27 Feb. 2025.

“Trewhiddle Style | Anglo-Saxon Archaeology.” Anglo Saxon Archaeology, anglo-saxon.archeurope.com/art/trewhiddle-style/. Accessed 27 Feb. 2025.

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