THIMBLE 236350

Description: Incomplete Medieval copper alloy thimble, with a large tear in its wall. It stands 17.1mm in height, has an open-end diameter of 20.5mm and weighs 3.7g. The walls are 1mm thick. The thimble is of the 'beehive' type, which dates between circa 1350 and 1500 (Holmes, 1991). The sides slope inwards from the open end, and rather more sharply on the domed top, which has a raised centre-point. The thimble is decorated with diagonal grooves in a zig-zag pattern around the sides. These are bound below by a groove and slight collar (at the open end) and with a double groove above, to form triangles. The triangles are filled with horizontal lines of tiny circular punch marks. The top of the thimble is similarly decorated, except that every other triangle (that with the point downwards) is roughly half the width of that next to it, creating a four-pointed petal or star when looked at from above. The bases of the wider triangles correspond with the bases of the inverted traingles on the wall of the thimble below. The very centre of this thimble-top arrangement is the raised centre-point and is a square in shape (created by the joining bases of the petal/ star), and it is smooth and undecorated. It has a tiny hole to one side, through wear. The thimble has an even shiny green patina. Cf an example from Mildenhall, Suffolk, SF-0CFCE3.

Date: 1350 - 1500

Object type: THIMBLE

Last import: August 15, 2017