Pre-Viking Plate Brooch with Ravens. 7th century A.D. A bronze plate brooch with low-relief ornament including two addorsed raven-heads above a vertical column with hooked claws to the sides; remains of pin-lug and catchplate to reverse. Cf. MacGregor, A. et al., A Summary Catalogue of the Continental Archaeological Collections, Oxford, 1997, item 8.4, for type. 9.49 grams, 41 mm (1 5/8 in.) London art market, 2000s. Property of an Essex gentleman. The item is without close parallel but the style of the bird-heads is strongly reminiscent of the art of Vendel-period Sweden and the satellite cultures of Continental Europe and early Anglo-Saxon England.

Fine condition.