1st-3rd century AD. A bronze hair pin, the shank decorated with horizontal lines, the head with the bust of an empress, possibly Julia Domna (170-217 AD), hair dressed into a centre parting and falling to the sides with a bun at the back. Cf. Allason-Jones, L. & Miket, R. The Catalogue of Small Finds from South Shields Roman Fort, Newcastle, 1984, item 3.540 for type. 11 grams, 10.5cm (4"). Ex Horton collection; formerly in a private collection, North London, UK, acquired in the early 1980s. Julia Domna was born in Syria around AD 170. She married Septimius Severus in A.D. 188, and had a son who was later to become the Emperor Caracalla, and a second son, P. Septimius Geta. In A.D. 208 she accompanied Severus, Caracalla and Geta on prolonged military campaigns to Britain. Fine condition.