302 (41)

274

Dress Accessońes

buttons of the former kind, found in Lund in Sweden).

Composite sheeting buttons (nos. 1397-1404, fig 179) were usually madę from two stamped hemi-spherical pieces of copper-alloy sheeting soldered together, and with a wire shank soldered in place. Cloth buttons consist of a bunched scrap of cloth sewn into a bali (these are briefly mentioned below - see fig 180, but are considered in greater detail in a companion volume on textile finds -Crowfoot et al. forthcoming).

C AST BUTTONS

(solid buttons with integral shanks, from three-part moulds: all are of lead/tin)

1376    BIG82 acc. no. 3403 (context 3204) ceramic phase 7 fig 178

Biconvex; d 8.5mm; tin (AML), lead/tin (MLC); front plain except for beading around edge (bubble near centre is accidental); back is plain; shank is now bent over.

1377    BIG82    2649    (2591)    8    fig    178

Biconvex; d llmm; tin (AML); front and back plain; shank has loop on a stem.

1378    BIG82    2508    (2853)    8    fig    178

Biconvex; d 12.5mm; pewter (AML); front (abraded) apparently plain except for a series of dots or zigzags around the edge; back plain; shank now bent over.

1379    BIG82    2338    (2745)    8    fig    178    & colour

pl7A

Biconvex; d 12mm; tin (AML); the front has a yellow-glass stone in a plain collet, with beading around the edge; back plain; shank has loop at a right angle to the stem. The stone was fixed by stamping the surround-ing collet.

A similar example with a green-glass stone (private collection) was found in spoił from the Billingsgate site.

1380    BWB83    4924    (373)    11    fig 178

Abraded; biconvex; d 13mm; high-tin pewter (MLC); beaded edge; central hole, presumably for a missing stone of a different materiał.

Cf lead/tin mounts nos. 851-54 (from phase-12 contexts) which    are very similar    in design.

1381    SWA81    1782    (2103)    12    fig 178

Flattish disc; d    12mm;    tin (AML);    the front has a

sbc-pointed wavy star with a central dot, and a raised border with a series of dots; plain back; shank has loop on a stem (now bent over).

Cf mounts nos. 855 etc, and Ward-Perkins 1940,122 & pl XX no. 5 (a copper-alloy stud with a similar decorative motif, attributed to the 15th century).

1382 SWA81 1090 (2100) 12 fig 178 Possible button - no surviving shank; d 15.5mm; tin (MLC); slightly convex front (with void from bubble in casting) and diametrical rabbeted band, which termin-ates short of the edges in a circle at each end.

The bevelled back with its concave centre is not a usual feature of mounts. The decoration may have been intended to recall the aperture on a rumbler beli.

A similar item (d 14mm) comes from the recent SUN86 site (acc. no. 932, unstratified).

1383 BIG82 2482 (2560) unstratified context (possibly with phase-7 pottery) fig 178 Biconvex; raised rim at edge; d 13mm; high-tin bronze (MLC); front damaged; front and back plain; stem of shank survives.

Solid, plain buttons with separate shanks from two-part moulds

(all are of copper alloy; the wire of the shanks is not obviously drawn)

1384    BIG82    2322    (2591)    8    fig    178    & colour

pl 7B

Spherical; d 9mm; high-tin bronze (AML); fragment broken from the body; embedded copper-alloy shank; the surface of the sphere is highly reflective; probably highly polished.

1385    BIG82    2359    (2544)    8

Biconvex; d 8mm; bronze with tin coating (AML); stubs of embedded copper-alloy shank remain.

1386    BIG82    5734    (2591)    8    fig    178

As preceding; d llmm; bronze with tin coating (AML); embedded copper-alloy shank.

1387    SWA81    3432    (2141)    9

As preceding; d 8mm; back incomplete; embedded shank missing; no visible coating.

1388    SWA81    1831    (2004)    9 fig 178

As preceding; bronze with tin coating (AML); stubs of copper-alloy shank remain.

1389    SWA81    1225    (2146)    9

As preceding; d 9mm.

1390    SWA81    1311    (2018)    9

As preceding; d lOmm.

1391    SWA81 2167B (2030) 9

As preceding; bronze with tin coating (AML); front