File:Roman unidentified object (FindID 19655-438820).jpg

English: Unidentified object made from copper alloy, filled with lead and decorated with blue and red enamel. The copper alloy component is hollow and circular in section, and tapers from 16 mm in diameter at one end to 9 mm at the other. Both ends have a series of worn transverse mouldings around them, with that at the mouth of the wider end being more definite than the rest. The mouth of the narrower end has been lost. The centre has four transverse rows of long triangular champlevé cells, those nearest the ends with their bases to the ends and those nearest the centre with their bases to the centre. Each row is filled with alternately blue and red enamel, so that the longitudinal rows are of a single colour. The middle of the object is filled with lead. The narrow end is incomplete, with a split running into one of the champlevé cells, and there is some iron corrosion, but as no attraction is felt by a magnet the amount of iron must be very small - really just a stain. The function of this piece is uncertain (although there is a parallel in the British Museum with a hexagonal section, also of unknown function!) The possibilities include a leg from a vessel, or a handle from a mirror. The latter is a tempting possibility as triangles of alternating blue and red champlevé enamel is a fairly common decorative motif on cosmetic mortars (for grinding up pigments to make cosmetics). These decorated cosmetic mortars date from the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD. Could this handle be from a mirror sold with a cosmetic grinder as a make-up set? It is an unusual and interesting find, and if you wanted to donate it to a museum I am sure that the British Museum (telephone Ralph Jackson on 0207 323 8580) would be pleased to accept it.