chain
- Museum number
- 1850,0601.3
- Description
-
Gold necklace chain with the clasp in the form of an 8-spoked wheel, and a small crescent-shaped pendant. The chain is formed of 72 double figure-of-eight links, permanently attached to the back bar of the wheel clasp at one side, and terminating in a simple hook at the other end. The wheel incorporates both plain and beaded wire, and small gold globules are placed where the spokes are attached to the rim of the circle. The crescentic pendant is not placed opposite the clasp, but 200 mm from the wheel. It has beaded tips which are now in contact, though it may have had an open form originally.
The position of the pendant indicates that the long chain was designed to be worn looped twice round the wearer's neck, when it hangs at the front of a 'double' chain.
- Production date
- 1stC-2ndC
- Dimensions
-
Diameter: 23 millimetres (diameter of wheel clasp)
-
Length: 727 millimetres
-
Weight: 41.08 grammes
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Width: 11 millimetres (crescent pendant)
- Curator's comments
- The history of this hoard is obscure. We know that it was found around 1811, but not where it was found. The hoard was said to have included about 280 coins, but all but one of these, and probably other objects, were dispersed before The British Museum was able to acquire what was left of the treasure in 1850. The surviving coin is a denarius of Antoninus Pius (reigned AD 138-161) issued in AD 139.
The necklace has a solar wheel as a clasp and a pendant in the shape of a lunar crescent. This type of necklace was widespread in the Roman world.
The treasure was probably a votive deposit at a shrine of the Mother-goddesses near the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall.
- Location
- On display (G49/dc11)
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
2013 23 May - 15 Sep, Wallsend, Segedunum Roman Fort, Spotlight: The Backworth Hoard
1993 17 Jun-26 Sep, Cologne, Romisches-Germanisches Museum, Goldschmuck der Romischen Frau
- Acquisition date
- 1850
- Acquisition notes
- Found in 1811 or 1812, exact findspot unknown.
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 1850,0601.3