File:Cast copper alloy unidentified object (FindID 486077).jpg

English: Cast copper alloy fitting, probably a drop handle from a vessel, dating from the late Iron Age or early Roman period, that is c. 100BC-AD50. The handle is in good condition with a smooth surface that is only interrupted by cracks of corrosive products coming through to the surface where the artefact was slightly bent out of shape. The handle is curved and has a quatrfoil-shaped cross-section. The four ridges on the outside are all decorated with a decoration called 'pseudo-stitching'. The terminals of the artefact have small square prongs in the centre which were probably used for suspension or attachment to the body of the vessel.

Adam Gwilt from the National Museums Wales suggests that the half-circle looks to be a drop handle fitting for a vessel. The pseudo-stitching decoration is paralleled particularly on terrets, bracelets and bowls of Late Iron Age to early Roman date and of Iron Age/Celtic style. Drop handles begin to be seen in well dated 1st BC-1st AD rich cremation grave assemblages in southern England. So I would go for 50BC-AD100 and crossing the Iron Age to early Roman period.