English: A cast copper-alloy buckle of probable early-medieval date. As a colleague writing about a parallel recorded on this database (<a href = "pas_obj.php?type=finds&id=00145B8DC18010BB" target = "_blank>" </a>BH-8DA095</a>) notes, the style of the artefact bears strong similarities to a series of 13th to 14th century spur buckles found during excavations in London (cf. Egan and Pritchard 1991, 106; fig. 68). However, the zoomorphic nature of the plate's decoration is very similar to that seen on the 8th to 10th-century Saxon strap-end group (see Thomas 2003). A parallel given an early-medieval date can be found illustrated in Mills (2001, 19; ref. AS11), although the late 6th-century date given ought to be queried. Another parallel, with perhaps a more convincing early-medieval appearance, can be found on the PAS database at NLM946. The frame and plate have been cast in one piece. The frame is sub-oval in plan with a bevelled outer edge; it has a cross-section of a triangle with rounded corners given the flat lower surface. Central on the outer edge is a notched pin rest. The copper-alloy pin is retained held within a hole in a narrow section at the frame end of the plate with the point sitting in the rest. The plate is sub-rectangular with a zoomorphic terminal moulded in low relief, beyond the pin hole. It appears that an animal head is depicted with ears, eyes and nose delineated. On the flat lower surface there is a single short rivet of circular cross-section (L.: c. 4.5mm) towards the terminal. This would have gone through the belt and is now bent slightly in the direction of the frame. The metal of the integral plate and frame has corroded to a red-brown colour consistent with early-medieval metalwork. Limited traces of gilding survive on the zoomorphic terminal. The pin, evidently of a different alloy, possibly a replacement, is a mid/dark-green colour; the pair of similar buckles referenced had iron pins.