File:Medieval Box or Casket Mount (FindID 180014).jpg

English: A complete cast, enamelled and gilded mount of Medieval date, probably late thirteenth or fourteenth century (c. AD 1250 – c. AD 1400). Length 36.4mm, width 16.2mm and 3.4mm thick. Weight 5.28g.

The mount, probably for a box or casket, consists of three distinct elements, a sub-square plate, a shaft (or arm) and a perforated terminal. It is moulded and decorated at the front but flat and plain at the rear.

The plate is 17.8mm in length and 16.3mm wide. At the centre of the plate is a circular recess, 10.6mm in diameter. Within the circle is a square shield surrounded by blue enamel (some of the enamel is lost). The shield is charged with decoration representing fur and known in heraldic terms as ‘vair’. This enamelled decoration is also coloured blue. The fur decoration is similar to that on some other Medieval harness pendants, for example see: Ashley 2001, 13 and 17, figs. 13 and 17, refs. 98. 105, 159 and 160. At each angle of the plate is a fleur de lis motif. However, these are barely visible. There are two circular holes for rivets or spikes very close to the edges of the plate, one at the top and one at the bottom, along the longitudinal centre-line. The diameter of each hole is 2.1mm.

The shaft is centrally situated along one edge of the plate and has a length of 8.0mm, a width of 5.1mm and a maximum thickness of 3.4mm. It is sub-triangular in cross-section and is flat at the rear (as mentioned above). The two upper front faces of the shaft are slightly convex and rounded.

The perforated terminal, which is divided from the shaft by a narrow transverse rib, is sub-circular in plan. It has a length of about 9.5mm and a width of 8.2mm. Slightly off-centre is a circular hole which has a diameter of 2.8mm. The outside edge (the extreme end) of the terminal has a small up-turned lip.

The copper alloy part of the object is in fair condition and is mainly covered in a dull khaki patina, although some areas are covered in superficial copper alloy corrosion products. The surviving enamel is generally crazed and in poor condition. Traces of gilding are visible on the front only.

The motif on the shield representing fur, although heraldic in form, is probably not armorial but merely decorative.

This mount is similar in some respects to one recorded from West Rudham Parish, Norfolk and has the same three integral elements; namely a plate with two holes for spikes or rivets, an arm and a perforated terminal. See Portable Antiquities Scheme find: NMS-49FAA7.