330 (30)

Pins faęon cTAngleterre (Longman and Loch 1911, 16).

Although it appears that the repertoire of decoration employed on pins of the 14th and early 15th centuries was extremely limited, without these examples from London even this conclusion would not have been possible, sińce depictions of pins in contemporary art do not show decoration.

Pins with decorative heads have a restricted rangę of shank length compared with those from the rest of the collections, where a much greater diversity in length is apparent. Thus the pins with decorative heads rangę in length from 37mm to 84mm whereas other pins with solid heads rangę in length from 29mm to 199mm and those with wound-wire heads rangę from 24mm to 113mm (fig 204). It may, therefore, be surmised that the former had a morę limited use.

303

203    (left) Pins with acom heads, nos. 1485-87 (2:1)

204    Pins with long shanks from 14th-century deposits in London. The three on the left have solid heads and the one on the right has a wound-wire head. The head of the pin with a fine-gauge shank on the centre right is tin coated.(1:1)