About the Jeweled Brooches of the Anglo-Saxons

The fibulae, or brooches, of Anglo-Saxon work which have been discovered in graves, etc., are remarkable for their excellence and beauty. A splendid specimen of these ornaments was found in 1771, near the neck of a female skeleton in a grave on Kingston Down. The shell of this brooch is entirely of gold. The upper surface is divided into seven compartments, subdivided into cells of various forms. Those of the first and fifth are semicircles, with a peculiar graduated figure, somewhat resembling the steps, or base, of a cross, which also occurs in all the compartments, and in four circles, placed cross-wise with triangles. The cells within this step-like figure and the triangular are filled with turquoises, the remaining cells of the various compartments with garnets, laid upon gold-foil, except the sixth, which forms an umbo, and bosses in the circle, which are composed apparently of mother-of-pearl.