5th-6th century AD. A composite disc brooch comprising an iron core and silver outer plates; the obverse decorated with silver inlay in the Tauschierung technique in wedge-shaped blocks and strips with a ring of reserved meander pattern and another of pellets; four gilded bosses to the outer edge, central disc; to the reverse, two pin-lugs and a catch, old collector's reference 'MS116'. Cf. Beck, H. et al., Fibel und Fibeltracht, Berlin, 2000, fig.153(1), from Nordhausen, Germany; Menghin, W., The Merovingian Period. Europe Without Borders, Berlin, 2007, item VI.5.2.8.58.1 grams, 61mm (2 1/2"). From an important private Dutch collection; formerly in the collection of Dr. Hans-Ulrich Haedeke (1928-2017), author of ‘Schmuck Aus Drei Jahrtausenden’ and who became the director of the Museum of Klingenmuseum in Solingen, Germany, in 1968; the collection was formed in the early 1960s; this lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by AIAD certificate number no. 10479-169959.