Find something on display: Middle Shelf

String of 14 amethyst beads. Amethyst beads, mainly from trade routes that led through Germany, are more commonly found in Kent than elsewhere in the country.

String of beads.

String of 69 beads of various colours.

Carinated glass Bell-Beaker with fine white trials below the rim, and on the base. As this glass has no base, it has been suggested it was used for toasts at feasts; the drink would have had to be downed in one go.

Bird brooch, silver gilt, garnet inset in eye and tail, niello inlay.

Bird brooch, silver gilt, garnet inset in eye and tail, niello inlay.

Kentish bracteates. Bracteates, thin single-sided gold medals, were worn as pendants on a string around the neck. They may have been seen as a protective amulet.

Rare Kentish silver brooch of cruciform shape.

Bronze gilt brooch of Jutish type without a pin.

Electroform copy of bronze gilt brooch - the original is at the British Museum. The earliest Saxons regularly used almost abstract animal designs on their jewellery.

Circular silver jewelled disc brooch of Kentish work set with garnets; cloisonee work and gold wire filigree.

Bronze brooch of foreign type, possibly from Belgium or the Lower Rhine region of Germany.

Two radiate-headed brooches with five inlaid garnets.

Handmade, burnished, handled pottery mug with round base, brownish ware. Found close to the head of a child. Burnishing (rubbing a pot with a leather cloth) would make the mug watertight and also a lot smoother to the touch.

Jewelled buckle of Frankish type.

Bronze buckle and buckle plate inlaid with silver.

Fragments of cloth in glass slide.
Found adhering to the remains of an Anglo-Saxon in a grave at Sarre, Kent in 1863.

Glass tumbler.

Conical glass vase.

Bronze buckle of Frankish type.

Donated to the museum by John Brent this relic box appears to have been found in the grave of an Anglo Saxon male. It would originally have had a lid and base and may have been used to hold oil, or ink.

Bronze gilt brooch of cruciform shape and foreign manufacture, probably from South West Germany. This type is very rarely found in England, and another example is known from Silton, Ash, Kent.

Crystal sphere in a silver sling. It is not known what these spheres were used for, but they are often found in the graves of women alongside silver spoons. It has been suggested that they may have been used to symbolically purify water.

Crystal ball suspended in silver sling, with silver wire ring through the top of the sling.

Circular silver gilt disc brooch set with 3 square and 1 round garnet

Enamelled disc, possibly from side of a hanging bowl and used to suspend it. Design is of celtic origin thrown up by red champleve enamel. It probably comes from Western England, or Wales.

Enamelled disc, similar to above.

Cast silver fish brooch with geometric decoration and garnet set eye, fins and tail.

Cone beaker, with vertical fluting and horizontal thread of opaque white glass below the rim. Cone beakers may have been used at feasts where, because they had no bases, the drinkers would have had to down the contents in one go, perhaps as a toast.

Green glass vessel, repaired.

Small gold pendant set with cross in centre.

Small gold pendant set with garnets, may have been used as a sword bead.
Found in Anglo Saxon cemetery at Stouting, Faversham. Collected by Mr. J. Brent.

String of 68 beads, of various colours.

Triangular gold pendant.

Oval gold pendant.

Bracteate. Bracteates, thin single-sided gold medals, were worn as pendants on a string around the neck. They may have been seen as a protective amulet.

Radiate brooch, cast bronze.

Radiate brooch, cast bronze, ring and dot and chevron decoration on bow and foot.

Rare gilded bronze saucer brooch of West Saxon type, one of a pair.

Iron shield boss. Found 9” from the grave floor and 15” from the head of the grave, suggesting that the width of shield was not more than 30”.

Silver gilt spoon with swastika in niello on junction of bowl and handle. Found between knees of skeleton.

Small square headed brooch, silver gilt.

Small square headed brooch, silver gilt.

Silver-gilt square-headed brooch of a cruciform shape, jeweled and set with 9 garnets.

Glass Vessel.

A strap end would have been affixed to the end of a belt or strap of a harness as decoration. They would protect the leather end of the strap and make it easier to thread, but despite this very functional purpose they were still considered jewellery in their own right.

Circular stone objects, probably used in a game.