File:Early Saxon buckle. (FindID 475661).jpg

English: Early Anglo-Saxon silver buckle, treasure case 2011T835.

Description: Oval frame of oval cross-section, with slight groove following the inside edge, probably the result of hammering during manufacture. There is a broad grooved pin rest on the outside edge and a narrowed bar. The pin is cast and D-shaped in cross-section, with a raised square on top of the loop; it is curved at the tip to fit over the frame. The plate is made from a piece of rectangular sheet folded in two, with the lower half narrower and the upper half a little broader with the corners recessed. A groove forms a border along the line of the recesses, with transverse nicks outside to form a ladder pattern. Four engraved longitudinal lines run from the pin slot to the end of the plate, running between two empty rivet holes. At the attachment edge there are four notches, and between each the edge is slightly curved.

Dimensions: Frame 15 mm long x 24 mm wide. Pin length 17 mm. Plate 17 mm long x 19 mm wide. Weighs 7.18 g.

Discussion: This buckle is of Marzinzik's Typegroup II.24, 'buckles with small plate' (2003, 51-2). The longitudinal decoration can be paralleled on a copper-alloy buckle from Illington (Norfolk) grave H1 (Marzinzik 2003, pl. 135; Davison et al 1993, 45-6 and fig. 48); the shaped rear edge to the plate and square boss on the pin are features also found on a copper-alloy buckle from Westgarth Gardens (Bury St Edmunds) grave 69 (West 1988, 38 and fig. 85), and the borders are similar to those on a copper-alloy buckle from Finglesham (Kent) grave 180 (Hawkes and Grainger 2006, 123 and fig. 2.130). All of these graves are likely to date from the late 6th or 7th centuries, and although the parallels are all of copper alloy, silver buckles of the same type are not especially rare.