Brooch

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This enamelled bronze brooch with its stem plated with tin was found at the site of the Roman fort at Newstead in Roxburghshire. It was a valuable brooch, worn sometime between 80 and 180 AD.

The semicircular head of the brooch is decorated with blue enamel, with a triangular patch, perhaps originally red, in the centre. The stem has been plated with tin to give it a shiny appearance.

The use of enamel decoration was popular among native people in Scotland and northern Britain for prestigious objects, and was even adopted for some Roman objects. The glass used was recycled from imported objects or scrap material.

Record details

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• Online ID: 000-100-104-122-C
• Image Rights Holder: National Museums Scotland
• Project: National Museums Scotland
  Project description   View all records in project
• Ref: National Museums Scotland  X.FRA 844
• Date: 80 - 180 AD
  Between 80 and 180 AD
  
• Material: Semicircular head in blue enamel
  
• Dimensions:
• What:
• Subject:
• Who: Newstead Collection
  
• Where: Scotland, Roxburghshire, Melrose, Newstead
  
• Event:
• Description: Brooch with semicircular head in blue enamel, from the Roman site at Newstead, Roxburghshire, 80 - 180 AD
  
• References:
  • Curle, J. A Roman frontier post and its people: the fort of Newstead. Glasgow: MacLehose, 1911, p 325, 332, Pl LXXXVII, 27, PL LXXIX, 23. 
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