in or about the year 1891.[1]
Sword and Scabbard Found at Amerden.
The sword,
which is almost entirely of iron, is firmly fixed into its bronze sheath by an accumulation of rust. This sheath, upon which a good deal of decoration has been bestowed, is 2 feet 9½ inches long, and 1¾ inches, varying to 1⅜ inches towards the point, in breadth. At the point is a kind of elongated heart-shaped compartment answering to the shape of a leather scabbard. Near the middle of the lower half of the sheath is a rather pretty little applied ornament resembling in shape a reversed letter S. The chief efforts at decoration, however, have been expended upon the upper end, which has a kind of rounded angular, or ball-shaped termination reminding one very forcibly of the sword sheaths of La Têne. Fitting closely into this end of the scabbard is the bronze guard of the sword perforated for the tang of the sword. The rounded triangular space and a square panel below it are filled with ornament, the form and character of which are not easily described, but will be best seen from the accompanying illustrations.
A good example of the survival of bronze after the introduction of iron is furnished by a fine bronze torque, five inches in diameter, found in a bed of solid clay at a depth of five feet below the surface of the ground, and by the side of a rivulet not a mile from the town of Winslow. The torque was exhibited at a meeting of the Society of Antiquaries of London, 21 November 1793, at which time it was in the possession of Mr. Grove, of Whitchurch. It was figured in Archæologia,[2] where it is described as a 'fibula of copper.' The ends were dilated and turned back so as to form a species of hooks or fastenings, giving a general appearance which enables one to place it without doubt within the late Celtic period.
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