EARLY MEDIEVAL MOUNT

Description: Tiny gold filigree-decorated mount in the shape of a bird, now slightly crushed but apparently never of very fine workmanship. It has a flat gold backplate with a beaded-wire border running around the small crescent-shaped profile head looking left, probably intended as a that of a predatory bird; two wings, one curved and pointed but the other (under the head) just a rounded circle; and flared base, perhaps intended to represent a tail. The beaded wire of this border is about 0.7mm in diameter and is very worn, rubbed flat in places and scraped in others; it is missing entirely at the bottom right-hand corner of the tail.Within this border, five complete or almost-complete annulets are soldered on, made from the same beaded wire as the border and similarly worn. A larger annulet is in the centre, with four others slightly smaller; two below filling the tail, one above at the chest (the junction of the wings and the neck) and one filling the rounded wing. None of the ends of the wires meet, and the workmanship is generally poor. The other wing has a C-shape of beaded wire which appears to be originally this shape; and the head has a small rounded eye with a long tail b