54 Haakon Schetelig. [No. 8 
known neither of gold nor of iron — they are cast as perfect as 
possible in the form intended, only corrected afterwards with a 
file and provided with the ornaments executed with punch or drill. 
As no unfinished specimen has been found we do not know in what 
degree the filing was required; but that this part of the work was 
not at all insigniticant is seen by comparing specimens which have 
come from the same mould, as in such cases the finished brooches 
are diverging not a little form each other respecting the details of 
the form. In all cases the exactness of the workmanship is well 
worth our admiration respecting the fine brooches really destined 
to be ornaments of the dress. 
Ås mentioned above the brooches are originally east in the 
full thickness indicated by the facets of the surface, å cireumstance 
especially characteristic of the early stages of development. Later 
on, when the brooches often became larger, of broader forms, and 
of åa more marked moulding than before, they are generally made 
concave from the underside, the bronze being cast relatively thin 
in all parts of, the brooches. This proceeding, which no doubt 
signifies a progress in the workmanship of casting, of course did 
not diminish the ornamental effect of the form when the brooch 
was used, and it also afforded a practical improvement by diminish- 
ing the weight of the piece, å eireumstance not unimportant in the 
case of so large ornaments destined to be worn in the dress. 
The general transformation of the form, though in some degree 
influenced by this change in the workmanship, is chiefly due to 
the gradual forgetting of the original meaning of the different ele-. 
ments constituting the form. As we have seen were all the cha- 
racieristic parts of the ceruciform brooches produced in connexion 
with some practical purpose; the long and narrow shape of the 
foot had been a necessary consequence of the returned foot which 
was at its time åa very useful invention in order to form the brooeh 
by bending a piece of string and not by casting; the three knobs 
had got their natural place at the upper end of the brooch as the 
completion of the arrangement of the spring-eoil, and the square 
plate had originally the destination to cover the spring-coil and to 
connect the three knobs with each other. When all the elements 
of the form were reduced to mere ornamental parts of the brooch 
the transformation of them seems to have gone rather rapidly, but 
it was just of this reason never consequentially and equally brought 
about in all the brooches made at the same point of time. It is 
