9th century AD. A gold flat-backed saltire-shaped Ottonian strap junction or mount with D-section mouths to the ends, filigree collars to the mouths, ropework bands to the edges; a quincunx of blue glass cabochon studs to the upper face and filigree loops between with granule detailing; each mouth with transverse piercing behind the collar. Cf. the filigree and granule work on the Alfred Jewel and the Minster Lovell Jewel, published in Webster, L. & Backhouse, J. The Making of England. Anglo-Saxon Art and Culture AD 600-900, London, 1991, items 259, 260. 3.61 grams, 20mm (3/4"). From an old English collection; acquired on the European art market. The saltire shape and D-shaped channels imply a distributor for thongs or straps, held by pins passing through the holes behind the collars.