KAS Brooch Travels the North Sea

"A request was recently made through Maidstone Museum for the loan of one of the Anglo-Saxon brooches in the Society's collection from November 1999 until December 2001. The brooch in question is of a type known as square-headed and is made of gilt and silvered bronze, 133mm in length. It is said to date from the middle or second half of the sixth century. The head and foot have an elaborate chip-carved design including human and animal heads while the bow is decorated with a large human head. It was discovered in Grave 41 of the cemetery at Bifrons and was published in Archaeologia Cantiana X (1876), p.313 with a detailed engraving. The brooch is also discussed in detail in Anglo-Saxon Jewellery by Ronald Jessup (1950, pp.108-9 & pl.xviii) where it is accompanied by a photograph which reveals some inaccuracies in the 1876 engraving. Incidentally, Ronald Jessup, who died in 1991, was Hon. Editor of Archaeologia Cantiana at the time of writing his above-mentioned book.

The request has come from the Fries Museum in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands, who wish to use the brooch in their exhibition Kings of the North Sea, AD 250 to 850 which opens on 18 December 1999. The exhibition will then travel to the Nordfriesische Museum, Husum (Federal Republic of Germany); Museum Het Valkhof, Nijmegen (Netherlands); Tyne and Wear Museums; Esbjerg Museum (Denmark); Archeologisk Museum, Stavanger (Norway) and finally back to the Netherlands for the Rijksplanologische Dienst, The Hague.

Throughout its travels, the brooch will be labeled clearly as the property of the KAS and will thus serve to introduce the Society and its collection to a wider audience.

Dr. Michael Still Hon. Curator, KAS