pl. 56.[1] A curious Danish inscribed sword of this type is represented in Lord Ellesmere's translation of the "Guide to Northern Archæology," p. 50.
It deserves notice that the long spear-head, sometimes barbed, appears in Cædmon and other Ante- Norman drawings, with one, two, or three short cross-bars, which are likewise seen on the example from Nottingham. This spear measures 2412 in. long, by 212 in., greatest width of the blade, on which are seen in several places the traces of woody fibre, as if some flat objects of wood had rested upon it. The length of the two fragments of the sword is 36 in., but some portion may have been lost at the fracture: width of blade 214 in., cross-guard 512 in., the gripe, where traces of wood appear, scarcely more than 3 in. The Norman spur is a good example; the shanks are straight. the neck short, slightly recurved, and the point pyramidal. It may, probably, be assigned to the eleventh century.[2] The long-necked rowelled spur nearly resembles a brass specimen at Goodrich Court, of the middle of Henry VI.'s reign.[3] These curious relics have been subsequently deposited in the Tower Armory.
Mr. Sulley sent also a gold ring, date about t. Henry VI,, found not long since at St. Ann's Well, near Nottingham. The impress is a "Merchant's Mark," of which a representation is given. It appears to be composed of the orb of sovereignty, surmounted by a cross, having two transverse bars, like a patriarchal cross.
The extremities of the lower limbs terminate with the Arabic numerals, 2—0, the cypher being traversed by a diagonal stroke, as frequently written in early times. Mr. Wright, in his interesting memoir on the Abacus, observes that the siphos seems to have been intended for a Greek Θ, and hence, possibly, this transverse line.[4] On one side of the hoop is seen the Virgin and Child, on the other
- ↑ This fashion of the knuckle-pomel is well illustrated by the fine Danish specimen in Worsaae's Primeval Antiq., Transl. by Thoms, p. 49.
- ↑ The Frankish spur of the tenth century, at Goodrich Court, has a much longer neck. Compare the iron spurs found in a Roman building at Woodchester. Lysons, pl. 35. A brass spur very similar in form to that from Nottingham, is in the York Museum.
- ↑ Skelton, vol. ii. pl. 80.
- ↑ Journal of Brit. Archaeol. Assoc. vol. ii. p.71.
