English: Paul and Charmian Woodfield (see notes, below) write: 'Base metal finger-ring open on one side, and having enlarged snake head terminals. The interior has traces of silvering, suggesting that it was originally silvered all over. This is a well known Roman mass produced style of jewellery, which can occur in a variety of metals, including in gold (Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire - bracelet), silver, and bronze. The nearest similar findspot for a snake-headed artefact is at Castlethorpe (Buckinghamshire - pair of silver bracelets of c. 1st century; 1/2 mile distant) where other jewellery of the period was also found' (cf. Johns 1997, 37). Robert Webley continues: the manufacturing process would have involved casting followed by hammering, with the decoration then stamped on. The large gap between the terminals is suggestive of damage suffered by the artefact. A key author on serpentiform jewellery is Catherine Johns (see Johns 1996; 1997). According to her typology, this example can be classified as a Type Bii finger-ring. This type has two animal-head terminals, and is characterised by the flatness of hoop and terminals: to Johns (1997, 36) it is more suggestive of a snake-skin than a live snake. Representationally, the terminals are so stylised they are hardly recognisable as serpents. For Johns (1997, 36) this type is therefore a provincial variant. The style is well represented in Britain (comprising 32 of 36 of Norfolk's Snettisham hoard snake-rings), though it is more common in bracelets. Finger-rings of this style are most commonly found in bronze (Johns 1997, 37), though for serpentiform jewellery taken as a whole, in Roman Britain finger-rings are more common in precious metals (Swift 2003, 30). The precise form of the head is difficult to discern from the image provided. Classification as a Johns (1997, 38-39) Type II or VI snake-head is perhaps academic; it is improbable that this finger-ring had any relationship with Snettisham. From the image, the heads (c. 14mm x 6mm) each have a beaded nose and nasal ridge flanked on either side by ridges representing the brows. The main part of the skull, beyond, has a clear median groove dividing it in two. The area surrounding the head is decorated by fine beads, one of which represents an eye. This finger-ring probably dates to the 1st or 2nd century AD. Another penannular snake-ring, probably of Johns Type Bii, found in this county has been recorded on this database, PAS ref. <a href = "pas_obj.php?type=finds&id=00143BBDE8F012DA" target = "_blank" </a> NARC-BDDE70</a>, lying only c. 3km away.