EARLY MEDIEVAL JEWELLERY FITTING

Detached circular gold and garnet setting. The object has a gold backplate to which is soldered three concentric beaded wires; the outer and inner are very finely beaded and the central wire has larger beads. This is a common arrangement for Anglo-Saxon filigree. Within the innermost beaded ring is a plain collar which rises up the sides and slightly over the top of a circular garnet. This is dirty, and although the flash of the flat top of the garnet can be seen, it is impossible to see if there is a foil beneath. The backplate is featureless apart from a central roughly circular recess; this may be damage, as it is otherwise hard to see what its function is.