Casgliadau Arlein

Althought the brooch has the profile of the Dolphin Type, the polygonal cross section of the bow and the fluted mouldings to either side of a central, bordered, beaded rib are features of the Colchester B, with which the squared off foot and wide, moulded, semi cylindrical side wings are entirely compatible. But the brooch lacks the imitation chord hook and the doubly pierced lug at the rear of the head which characterize the type. Moreover, the suriviving evidence suggests that the spring was not attached to the brooch by any standard means. There was no rear hook for an external chord nor were the side wings equipped with pierced disc terminals to support an axial bar to the spring. Instead a thin inner skin of bronze survives, lining the rear of one of the side wings, and there are traces of a similar lining to the other, apparently implying that the spring or pivot bar was separately housed in a cylindrical or semi cylindrical cover which in turn was fixed within the side wings by an adhesive solder. The absence of any trace of re working on the head of the brooch suggests that this was not a replacement for a more standard mechanism.

Idiosyncratic means of attaching the spring mechanism are not uncommon and can usually be seen as an indication of limited, local manufacture. Here, however, all the features of the brooch suggest it had its origins in south east England and the presence of another brooch at Usk with an experimental form of the Polden Hill spring arrangement, also from the south east of England, shows the greater diffusion of experimental forms in the middle years of the first century.