Rights Holder: Somerset County Council
CC License:
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Unique ID: SOM-A7B481
Object type certainty: Certain
Workflow
status: Published
bAn incomplete Post-Medieval cast copper-alloy spherical bell. There is a raised circumferential ridge around the centre where the two hemispheres meet. Attached to the centre of the upper hemisphere is an irregular sub-rectangular suspension loop, with a small circular hole through it. The upper hemisphere has an irregular hole at one side, perhaps a sound hole that has become enlarged through later damage. This culminates in two cracks which run into the lower hemisphere. The lower hemisphere has a long thin slot or sound aperture in its centre, with a small circular hole at either end. A small piece of the bell has broken away to one side of the centre of this. The lower hemisphere is decorated with a pattern imitating fish scales and the upper with raised curved lines radiating out from the suspension loop. The metal is greenish-brown in colour with a shiny patina. Such bells, often called 'crotal bells' would have been attached to the collars of livestock and are hard to date; many are probably of 17th- to 18th-century date.
Length: 37.35mm. Diameter: 30.62mm. Weight: 32.27g.
Class: cast spherical
Subsequent action after recording: Returned to finder
Broad period: POST MEDIEVAL
Date from: Circa AD 1600
Date to: Circa AD 1800
Quantity: 1
Length: 37.35 mm
Weight: 32.27 g
Diameter: 30.62 mm
Date(s) of discovery: Wednesday 28th July 2010
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Other reference: Yeovil finds day 28-07-10
Primary material: Copper alloy
Manufacture method: Cast
Completeness: Incomplete
Grid reference source: From a paper map
Unmasked grid reference accurate to a 100 metre square.
No references cited so far.