6th-7th century AD. A bronze openwork buckle comprising an integral plate and loop and separate tongue; rectangular loop with everted corners and a couch for the tongue; D-shaped plate with a cruciform piercing and small knop at the rear, decorated with five ring-and-dot motifs; two pierced lugs on the reverse for attachment. Cf. hinged-plate openwork buckle from Eski-Kermen in Menghin, W. The Merovingian Period. Europe Without Borders, Berlin, 2007, item I.6.1.1. 7.64 grams, 37.56mm (1 1/2"). Property of an Essex gentleman; formerly in an old English collection. [No Reserve]