Arcadia Discussion Zone

We found this coin like thing in the garden and would love to know what it is, its not a coin because it has a stud on the back side where it has been attached to something, perhaps a harness or something like that. It is made of some kind of metal and looks as though it has been mangled by a plough or something on one side. We live very close to Hadrians wall and obviously finds turn up all the time but I don’t think this is roman, it has an archer on it that looks more Egyptian to me but its hard to say. I have tried to find something like it on the internet and in the library but have had no luck and our local museum hasn’t been able to come up with anything either except to say it might be celtic …..any ideas anyone?

I don't know what it is, but I think you're being remarkably calm about it!

I would send email with photos to one of the big museums and see if you can grab someone's interest. In the meantime, take a look at this page for similar imagery:

http://www.salimbeti.com/micenei/chariots.htm


Good luck and please report back!

Jeez wow!

is it a button ?

I have had it for a while but haven't been able to get a good photograph of it with a digi camera, I thought I would try my phone and it worked great
That's a good idea, I could send off some e mails and see what the experts say.

They do look similar designs but the "helmet" on my thingy reminds me more of an Egyptian style headgear, it's hard to tell really but it's in pretty good nick considering it's been buried for years.

it could be, perhaps the loop thing for attaching it to cloth is missing but it would be a big button if you judge its size by the size of my hand.

Could be Egyptian Revival - early 1800s or 1920s.

TCP

"Horse blinker with sphinx - Phoenician."

It could be Phoenician or Carthaginian, were they ever up there? It

looks ancient to me - Wow!!! If they test the metal they can tell where

it is from and how old the composition of the metal is. The above blinker shows that they

did ornament their horses. It could be Roman booty or from a Roman`s archaeological collection.



Phoenician silver coin - sold at auction.


Carthage.


British chariot coin.

I have sent 4 e mails with those pictures today to 3 museums and my local department of antiquities at Newcastle University and as yet I haven't had one reply, not even an acknowledgement

well it's definitely an Egyptian image rather than an Assyrian one...here is Ramses II in his war chariot...check out the quiver design.

Tina, your interesting button (or whatever it is) while it is obviously not a modern object it is certainly not ancient Egyptian .....but i would say, it depicts Ramses II

I will be very interested to find out when your object dates from...how did you come about it ?

Yep, I thought Egyptian too and that sketch looks very similar
My little nephews dug it up from the garden when they were playing one Sunday afternoon last year and it's fascinated me ever since, I wonder what else is down there and might invest in a metal detector .......ya never know.

maybe take it to a jeweller's so they can tell you what type of metal it is ?...i'm sure it's a button btw.

It's to big to be a button, I think it's some kind of ornamental attachment like harness or belt decoration or something like that. It looks silver and isn't magnetic but that's all I know about the metal. There is a lot of Roman history where I live and the foundations of a fort near where they found a few artefacts but nothing like my thingy. It looks as though it has been mangled on the side by some heavy instrument or caught in a plough or even a digger perhaps during it's time in the ground. I did think it could have been a toga decoration when we first found it but after searching the Internet I don't think it's anything like that, the stubby bit looks more like a stud than something you would thread through

can you get a photograph of the back end-on so we can see the nubbin bit ?

It's the second picture I posted up top there.

yep, got that...but end-on, sideways/in profile so i can see the sticky-up bit ?

ok I tried but it's not showing up, to blurry and the things to thin, it's a tiny raised bit thats all.

right, so it's thin, is it curved ?

No it's flat like a pancake except for the tiny raised bit and very thin, I will try to upload the picture.

Best i can do

Tingra,

Have you any idea of it's metallic composition?

It looks like bronze with a high tin content.

no idea Hotspur, all i know is its not magnetic, hopefully one of my e mails will result in someone wanting a look at it in one of my local museums and i will find out more then.....its quite heavy though.

hmmm....very interesting, don't let it out of your sight and take it to a jewellers for a metal analysis ?
Only nickel, iron and cobalt or their alloys are magnetic.

It might also be a nickel silver alloy - I believe the magnetic properties of this alloy depend on the nickel content. I have a piece of this alloy which is not magnetic.

If it is a nickel silver alloy I don't know what it says about the provenance of the artifact.

If it is a high tin bronze, it might suggest it is British. (?)