6th-7th century AD. A substantial bronze plate brooch of a bird or prey with hooked beak, arched neck, pelta-shaped tail, angled crest to the rear of the head and similar wing; claw with central void, punched annulet texture to the neck and tail, piriform panel to the hip, pin-lugs and catch to the reverse. Cf. Franceschi, G., Jorn, A. & Magnus, B. Fuglen, Dyret og Mennesket i Nordisk Jernalderkunst, vol.2, Borgen, 2005 item 63; Pollington, S., Kerr, L. & Hammond, B. Wayland's Work: Anglo-Saxon Art, Myth & Material Culture from the 4th to 7th century, Ely, 2010. 44 grams, 62mm (2 1/2"). From a UK collection; acquired in 2013 from an old family collection, Dartford, Kent, UK. The panel on the bird's hip probably represents the transformation of the god Oðinn (Woden) into an eagle. This incident happens in the myth of the gaining of the Mead of Inspiration in which the god tricks a giant's daughter who guards the vats where the drink is stored into surrendering the mead to him, then having drunk it all flies off in eagle form to escape the wrath of her father. A similar panel is shown on the hip of the gold eagle appliqué which appears on the shield buried in Mound ! at Sutton Hoo, Suffolk, England.