File:Modern hinged bracelet (plan open) (FindID 218986).jpg

English: Cast copper alloy hinged bracelet, with four pairs of moulded vertical ribs, divided at equal quarters around the circumference of the bracelet by four pairs of horizontal ribs. Each of the vertical ribs has a series of oblique lines which have been cast in to make the rib look like a rope. Within each pair of vertical ribs, is an area of linear cross-hatching which has been engraved or chiseled after casting, as it is more defined than the oblique lines.

The concealed hinge is made up of a thin rectangular tongue and rivet and the clasp has a similar tongue which slots into a tight groove, to hold the bracelet shut. A certain amount of pressure must be exerted to close the clasp, so that it is this resistance that keeps it closed, despite its weight.

"The form and decoration of this item could be West African but one element renders this very unlikely: the quartered hinge section, which I have not seen in any West African example. The hinge arrangement itself is not unknown; see Davies, West Africa Before the Europeans, 1965, page 265, Fig. 89, which shows an annular bracelet with a similar hinge with a flat central flange. However, in the image, the flange appears to have been cast in one piece with the rest of the hinge, whereas in the example the flange is a separate plate of metal. This would militate against it being West African." (Len Pole pers comm)

Van Cutsem (2002) illustrates similar examples of decoration on African bracelets on pages 44, 46, 50 and 53, but the closest parallel for the quartered hinge is part of an Indian bracelet on page 222.

The bracelet is most likely ethnographic and made in the modern era, although it was found at a depth that suggests that it has been in the ground for some time. The bracelet may have been brought back by miners who had acquired it abroad, considering it was found in a mining area.