What is this, section 5, page 7.

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Gary asks

21st November 2012

This is a metal detecting find in a field is near Badbury rings, in Dorset.

The British Museum don't seem to know what it is.

19mm top of head to bottom, 16mm wide and 11mm deep.

Weighs 6.2 grammes.

Looks rather Celtic.

Be interested to se if anyone passes by who knows more accurately.

From Moll:

22nd November

It most resembles a Viking or a Anglo-Saxon face also with the interlaced mustache. (but it has a bit of a modern feel to it.)

See here different faces in Viking art: http://tinyurl.com/cgaz4wy

From HarryPagetFlashman

This looks like something copied from and/or inspired by illustrations from the Book of Kells (late Celtic, rather than Nordic). I say "copied from" or "inspired by" those illustrations chiefly because the resemblance seems just a bit too "studied" and stylized to be authentic (even allowing the influence which Celtic metalwork had on early medieval Celtic illuminations and illustrations).

For reasons I find hard to fully express, this just strikes me as an (admittedly artful) modern "memento" (not unlike the wonderful jewelry pieces, based on items in their collection, which are sold by, among others, the Metropolitan Museum in New York or the Vatican Museums in Rome).

That said, I have no reason to gainsay the claims made about the item's discovery, but I do have to wonder, if this really was a serendipitous metal detector find, why there is not more detail provided about that discovery. I mean, what archaeological associations was it supposedly discovered with? Was there any historical reason for it to have been where it was supposedly found? Was the area where it was supposedly found a generally "fruitful" one or is this a rather singular find?

I find the lack of context and of additional details about the piece's discovery a bit disconcerting. I mean anyone can claim that they discovered something in, e.g., a previously unopened, 3,000 year old tomb, but what do we really know about this one's actual discovery? Obviously, the more compelling the circumstances of the find are, the less cause there is to doubt the object, even though the object, itself, raises some suspicions.

Unfortunately, all I know is what is claimed and shown and I would hate to calumniate someone merely on the basis of supposition and suspicion. That said, my "gut" says that it is a modern production. A nice one, but a modern one.

From Gary

The find location is Spetisbury, Dorset and other finds are 20 silver hammered coins, 3 matrix seals, 2 Celtic coins, various coin weights, some Roman coins and artifacts, a couple of gold posy rings and a Limoges figurine of St Mary.