782 Proceedings of the Royal Irinh Academy. 



might naturally ask why did he not " sweat " that on also and thus 

 make the fibula one piece and a better job. I quite agree with this 

 ancient jeweller that he adopted the only course open to him, for had 

 lie attempted to sweat the edge on he would have fused the cups, as 

 the heat from so great a mass of metal always runs to the thinnest 

 parts first, and a disaster would have been the result. The following 

 is the method that was adopted. 



The extreme edge of the cup piece was left thickened and a flat 

 piece of gold of an annular form, as shown in fig. 5, was very neatly 

 bent round and brought down tight to both surfaces, thus enclosing 

 the thickened edge, and in fact it becomes riveted on ; see section, 

 fig. 8. 



The next stage is the ornament : — The ornamentation on these 

 gold articles has hitherto been alluded to as engraving or lines cut out 

 by a sharp tool. This is not so, as all the ornament is produced by 

 hammer and chisel. I have examined many of these gold ornaments 

 under the microscope, and small imperfections or chips in the work- 

 man's chisel are reproduced continually throughout the wholeornament. 

 This fibula also will prove this in another way. The internal orna- 

 menting of the cups has produced a bulge on the outer surface which 

 would be brought about by the numerous small taps of the hammer ; 

 if this were engraved the line of the outer surface would not be 

 altered. 



Fibula B weighs 4 oz. 11 dwt. 18 grs. ; the bow is solid and ham- 

 mered from an ingot same as already described in A; the cups are 

 then sweated on, but left quite thick to prevent their melting : they 

 are then hammered out thin, and bell-shaped. There is a thickened 

 edge and a beautiful moulded ornament on the outer side only, which 

 quite puzzles me as to how it was produced without suggesting what 

 are considered to be modern tools. 



Fibula D weighs 2 oz. 1 dwt. 17 grs. ; the bow is solid; the cups 

 are well splayed out and ornamented with three concentric rings which 

 have all the appearance of being done on a lathe, the lines are so true. 

 It could be done by a piece of bone with those sectional marks in it 

 twisted round and finding its centre in the hollow of the cup, while 

 the other side rested probably on leather. 



Fibulae C and E : — These weigh 2 oz. 4 dwt. 20 grs. and 2 oz. 

 1 dwt. 12 gi's. respectively, and they differ from the others from the 

 fact that their bows are hollow. This was undoubtedly done with a 

 view of saving the gold. Then I should say they were made as 

 follows : — A piece of gold plate was hammered out, slightly tapering at 



