8th century AD. A parcel-gilt silver hipped dress pin with gilded animal head terminal, eyes inlaid with fragments of black glass. For a very similar pin in the British Museum see M&LA 1989,3-3,1, and Webster, L. & Backhouse, J. The Making of England. Anglo-Saxon Art and Culture AD 600-900, London, 1991, p.226, item 182. 1.89 grams, 66mm (2 5/8"). Property of an Essex gentleman; acquired from a North London gentleman in 2008; previously in the Lord McAlpine of West Green collection. Very fine condition. Extremely rare.