File:KENT-6AE3A5. Early Medieval tweezers (back). (FindID 106838).jpg

English: A pair of silver tweezers, broken, with a small additional fragment, but large parts missing. The separate fragment joins onto the longer arm, which is, however, still incomplete. Only a short part of the other arm is preserved. A solid loop links both arms and is decorated with pairs of groups. It should be noted that a fine crack is visible where the loop joins the longer arm and therefore further damage might occur. The arms carry engraved decoration in form of a simple line of S-hooks that expands into more complex single-strand interlace as the arms widen. Tweezers, usually iron or copper alloy, are a well-known class of objects from early Anglo-Saxon burials. They occur in a variety of forms (cf, for instance, MacGregor and Bolick 1993, 220ff; and West 1998, passim), but differ from the Monkton find. Not only is the latter made of silver, but also the way the solid attachment ring is moulded where it joins the arms of the straight-sided tweezers is not typical of early Anglo-Saxon finds. The niello-inlaid interlace suggests a later dating. The S-hooks leading into more complex interlace are comparable to the animal interlace on the sword pommel from Mouldsworth, Cheshire (2003 T139, Treasure Annual Report 2003 no. 119), dated to the second half of the 8th century. Similar are also the interlace knots on the headplate of a pin from Horncastle, Lincs. (Treasure Annual Report 2000 no. 55), and the decoration on a hexagonal copper alloy mount from Whitby Abbey, Yorks. (Wilson 1964, cat. no. 112, pl. XXXIX). They date to the late 8th and to the 8th century respectively. Non-destructive X-ray fluorescence analysis of the surface of the pair of tweezers with niello inlay, from Monkton, Kent, indicated a silver content of 91-93%, copper content of 4-6% and gold content of 2-3%. The low but significant gold content of the alloy is probably the result of recycling silver with the accidental addition of a small amount of gold. There is no gilding on the tweezers.