File:2007.22 Silver-gilt hooked clasp (FindID 244905).jpg

English: Silver gilt dress-hook with a trefoil back-plate cut from a sheet and indented by filing, to which (on the reverse) a separate hook and bar loop have been soldered. Attached to the front of the plate by solder are three hollow hemispherical silver gilt bosses. Each is decorated with three single-strand 'rope-twist' filigree wire circlets, arranged around a small granulated pellet at the mid-point of each dome. Holding a flat central disc (in lieu of a foliate sheet) is a dome-headed rivet (boss and shank) with split pin which passes through a circular hole through the centre of the back-plate, in the space between the three bosses. Gilding does not appear to extend to the hook.

A maker's mark has been punched onto the hook shaft, at the point where it has been attached to the back-plate. This is in the form of four triangular indents, making a cruciform stamp.

Overall length including hook 19.5mm; width of back-plate 14.4mm; weight 3.0g. The hook has not undergone any cleaning or conservation.

Metal Content

Analysis was undertaken by Mary Davis of the Department of Archaeology & Numismatics to ascertain the elemental composition of the artefact using a CamScan MaXim 2040 analytical scanning electron microscope (SEM), plus an Oxford Instruments Link Isis energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDX). The object was examined whole within the specimen chamber and analysed for 100 live seconds using a working distance of 35mm and an accelerating voltage of 20kV. Where possible, areas of metal exposed from under the surface corrosion were analysed; this occurred either when the object was found, or where a flaw in the surface allowed tiny areas of metal to be exposed with a pin vice or scalpel blade. Apart from very superficial surface swabbing of the artefact there was no further sample preparation. All the results presented are semi-quantitative. Overall totals taken from minimally prepared surfaces are usually affected to some degree by the surface geometry of the artefacts, including factors such as curvature, pitting and indentations etc. Other factors that can also affect the results include surface oxidation, surface enrichment or depletion of certain elements, contamination from closely adhering dirt or cleaning agents, and preferential corrosion (as with debased silver where copper corrodes at the surface).

Three separate readings were taken, and the majority of the overall totals acquired were relatively low due to the factors described above. The results were normalised to 100% to obtain consistency between the readings and to make the analyses comparable with other results.

Average composition of silver:
3% copper
97% silver