Roman Trumpet Brooch, Bronze

Roman Trumpet Brooch, Bronze

This brooch with chain loop is handcrafted from real bronze and has an authentic, fully functional pin construction. Supplied with certificate, length approx. 57mm

Roman Trumpet Brooches

With the Roman conquest of Britain by Emperor Claudius from 43 AD, the formerly Celtic culture received new impulses. The import of strongly profiled brooches led to the development of a new type of brooch, which clearly shows its continental origins. The so-called "Trumpet Brooches" exist in numerous variations, including strikingly ostentatious specimens with gold inlays or colourful enamel decorations. A remarkable feature of many of the brooches is an attached eyelet, which was intended for attaching a chain. When worn in pairs, the brooches were connected with a jewellery or glass bead chain, as for example with the complete find from Chorley/GB. 
The peak of their distribution is towards the end of the 1st to the middle of the 2nd century, the find from Chorley dates on the basis of coins around 140 A.D. Individual specimens can certainly also be found on the continent and in the large Roman centres on the Rhine and Danube. An outstanding piece with coloured enamel inlays comes from the Saalburg fort in the Taunus.
Our replica is based on finds from Vindolanda, a military camp in the hinterland of Hadrian's Wall in northern England. The auxiliary fort was built around 90 AD under Emperor Domitian and is today one of the most important archaeological sites of the Roman period due to its outstanding wetland preservation.  Towards the middle of the 2nd century, the 1st Tungrer cohort was stationed here, recruited from Germanic tribes from the Lower Rhine.