English: Fragment of silver-gilt Anglo-Saxon disc brooch, with detached dome-headed rivet. On the main fragment there is one complete silver-gilt lentoid field, about half of a second and the border of a third flanking a panel with a silver decoration emerging from an incised background filled with niello. The lentoid fields have a notched inner border and are decorated with vegetation motifs: three triangular leaves of increasing size, notched, develop from a tendril to fill the shape. The main field of the brooch is also decorated with a vegetation motif, this time apparently (but not quite) symmetrical, with fleshy, acanthus-like leaves, also notched, flanking a 'bud' from which emerges a trefoil shape that fills the remaining corners of the field. The rivet is dome-headed, and attached to it the sheared-off body of the brooch, of which three small protruding parts remain beyond its neck.

Discussion:
The disc brooch fragment can be compared in its general shape to a number of silver and niello disc brooches with rivets, ranging from the eighth to the eleven century. The design is based on four overlapping circles intersecting to form lentoid fields riveted together: we can envisage the brooch to have looked like that found at Beeston Tor Cave, Staffordshire, for example, which is dated to the end of the 9th century. However, the decoration on the fragment from Aldborough is exceptional, as other brooches usually present zoomorphic or geometric designs. Here we find a classical-looking plant, formal, yet loose. The acanthus scroll, commonly found in Carolingian art, is not often associated with Anglo-Saxon pieces, yet this brooch testifies to its confident handling on what must have been an important and innovative piece. One might suggest a date to the end of the ninth, beginning of the tenth century, and consider the vegetation motifs on the embroidered stole of St Cuthbert (donated in 934), as a good parallel for the treatment of the acanthus leaves. See L Webster and J Backhouse (eds.), The Making of England (London 1991), no. 245b and J Backhouse, D H Turner and L Webster (eds.), The Golden Age of Anglo-Saxon Art (London 1984), plate III.
Dimensions and metal content:

The fragment from the body of the brooch measures 3.4mm x 2.1mm, with a thickness of 1mm; the rivet is 0.8mm in diameter and 0.5mm high; weight: 4.7g. X-ray fluorescence analysis conducted at the British Museum indicated an approximate silver content of 96 per cent.