438 Notes on the Allington Gold Tore. 



became buried. It is of a uniform rich gold colour all over, in 

 excellent condition, and is apparently of pure gold, with probably 

 little or no alloy. The spiral edges are extremely smooth, indi- 

 cating a certain amount of wear, if not prolonged use. Its weight 

 is 2ozs. lOdwts. llgrs. (Troy), and the length of the part remaining 

 247mm. (about 9f ins.), including 55mm. the length of the terminal 

 and neck. It is figured in the accompanying illustration three- 

 quarters scale linear. In the thickest part, viz., close to the point 

 of cutting, the diameter of the twists is 9mm., but at the junction 

 with the terminal the diameter tapers to about 6"5mm. The hook 

 is 4mm. in diameter at the neck, enlarging at the end to 6mm. 



This tore is of rather slighter make than the Yeovil specimen, 

 but the terminals are practically of the same length. The main 

 point of difference in the two specimens is that the Allington 

 example is more closely twisted, having in the thickest part five 

 spiral turns to the inch, as compared with three-and-a-half turns 

 in the Yeovil specimen. 



The tore is composite and of the funicular four-flanged variety, 

 but the plates, or bands, of gold, which are 1mm. thick, were so 

 well soldered together that it is difficult, if not impossible, to say 

 whether the ornament was constructed of four strips of gold of 

 equal width, or from one broad band and two narrow ones soldered 

 together at right angles to one another before twisting. The latter 

 expedient, however, is the more probable one. 1 Judging from the 

 traces of solder observable (although very slight), the Allington 

 tore does not appear to have been constructed of two ribbons of 

 gold folded along the middle to a right angle and then attached 

 apex to apex before twisting, as obtains in the East Anglian tores 

 of gold. 



It was twisted probably without the application of heat into 

 the finished strand, which the ductility of the metal admitted of, 

 resembling a left-hand screw of four threads, with cruciform 

 section. Left-handed spirals were the general rule. 



1 The method of construction is fully dealt with in my paper in Proc. Som. 

 Arch. Soc, LV., pt. ii., pp. 72 — 4. 



