5th-8th century AD. A bronze metalworker's stake used to shape metal plates comprising a domed head with three regular triangular insets and square-section shaft clubbed to the bottom from use; impressions from metalworking punches to one face, including one in the tall 'S' shape sometimes found on cruciform and square-headed brooches. See Leahy, K. Anglo-Saxon Crafts, Stroud, 2003 for a discussion on metalworking techniques. 32 grams, 49mm (2"). From an old English collection formed before 1950.