46 Objects comprised in Lord Deramore^ s Recent Donation. 



submitted one of them to Sir John Evans, who writes me that 

 he thinks it is of EngHsh origin, and is in all probability from 

 the great hoard found at Stibbard, in Norfolk, where about 

 seventy such rough castings were found, as well as ten castings 

 for spear-heads, evidently the factory of an old English worker 

 in bronze. 



We now come to the most advanced and perfect form of 

 bronze, axe-shaped objects — namely, the socketed and looped 

 celt. Of these celts there are twenty-two in the Deramore 

 collection, from the large, strong celt, measuring 4^ inches 

 long down to tiny ones, little more than i^ inches long. What 

 these very small ones were used for it is hard to conceive, and 

 yet they must have had their use, although this could not have 

 been to strike a hard blow ; they are too light and small for 

 that. 



The way in which socketted celts show a great advance in 

 the metal-workers' art is the clever way by which the deep 

 socket or hollow was formed, and the casting left comparatively 

 thin, except, of course, near the edge, where some thickness of 

 metal was wanted for frequent grinding and sharpening. The 

 socket was made by the introduction in the mould of a core, 

 and this was probably done in just the same way that a modern 

 moulder or brassfounder would adopt. Celts of this type had 

 almost always a bronze loop cast on, close to the opening of the 

 socket. This, no doubt, was for the purpose of receiving a 

 thong or other tie to secure the bronze head to the wooden 

 handle, and thus prevent its falling off and being lost in battle. 

 All the Deramore socketted celts have loops. 



There are twelve bronze spear-heads, some unfortunately 

 in a rather fragmentary state ; eight of these have each two 

 loops fixed against the socket for helping to secure the spear 

 head to the shaft. The largest of these is only 9 inches in 

 length, and the shortest about 4 inches, so that there are 

 none of the very fine long spears seen in some collections. The 

 broad, keen blades and deep sockets are so cleverly fashioned 

 that these spears may be pronounced masterpieces of the bronze- 



