Member Finds Treasure

SAXON PYRAMID MOUNT

By: Dave Crisp

It was a funny sort of a day; here I was on a brand new farm and a field which seemed to stretch for ever. The weather was warm and dry and the barley stubble was quite soft, a perfect detecting day you would think, but I was not finding very much.

A few penny’s the odd bit of lead a couple of vet tubes (don’t they give a good signal) and the odd bit of a tin can. I suppose we should call them alloy cans, but I am rather old fashioned in that way.

All this walking , and on a steep hill was not doing my legs any good, its funny when you are having a good day and finding a few bits you don’t seem to notice the aching legs and that your arm is starting to go dead. I was going slower and slower, and that was walking down hill.

This was in a field that overlooked a Roman road; but there must have been a lot of keep out signs because I don’t think the Romans  went any where near it, they were probably in a hurry to get home. So I was quite surprised when I got a good signal on my Mine-lab which showed it could be gold or silver, (or maybe just another bit of lead). Just six inches down (that’s 15 cm in new money) there was a dull triangular bit of silver alloy; it looked like a fancy button, with a bar across the bottom. But it was the cross hatching that gave it away. Saxon, I didn’t know what it was, but I knew it was good.

I took it to my next club meeting so the members could see it, and to have it identified by Katie Hinds the finds Liaison Officer of Wiltshire. She confirmed it was a Saxon pyramid mount, and as it appeared to be silver it could fall under the treasure act. This it duly was, and was later was bought by a local museum. As normal this was the last I saw of it, so it was a good job I had taken plenty of photos before showing it.

This whole process and the time scale involved maybe warrants another article at a latter date.

Now for the technical bit, it turned out to be a Early Anglo- Saxon(600-700A D) pyramidal strap mount. made of silver, with a bar across the bottom. to secure a strap. The hole in the top had a little gold leaf in, and would have held a cut stone , normally a garnet.

 Early Anglo- Saxon(600-700A D) pyramidal strap mount