1973.31

Four Roman Bronze Pins

Said to have been excavated in The Poultry, London, 1928-9.

Purchased. Length a) 10.9cm, b) 9.3cm, c) 10.4cm, d) 9.8cm.

Four dress pins, their shafts slightly corroded. a) and b) have more intricate heads, c) and d) heads of simple biconical form. b) and c) seem to have traces of gilding.

Pins of this form are not infrequent at Romano-British sites but remain difficult to date with any accuracy. b) is close to Hawkes and Hull, Camulodunum (London 1947) pl. 100, 26 from a context before 65 AD. Compare also S. Frere, Verulamium Excavations I (London 1972) 123 fig. 34, 59-61 of the earlier part of the second century AD.

One suspects that these pins were excavated at the same site as the spoon 1989.03 also in the ANU collection.

Charles Ede Ltd (London), Catalogue 94 (November 1973) no. 7a (ill.); J.R. Green with B. Rawson, Catalogue of Antiquities in the Australian National University, A.N.U. (Canberra, 1981) 105.