Essex Portable Antiquities Scheme

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Essex Portable Antiquities Scheme

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10/04/2026

Finds Friday 🐾

This north Essex find is a great example of how Scandinavian art styles shaped local metalwork in the 11th century. This strap end reflects the Viking Ringerike tradition, with its 2D animal with ornamented facial features and tendrils, showing how makers in England were adopting and adapting ideas carried through trade and cultural contact.
Rather than copying Scandinavian designs directly, local craftspeople blended them with their own traditions. The mix of a three‑dimensional biting animal head and a flat profile‑view terminal shows real creativity and a willingness to experiment with new visual forms.
Three examples of this type are known from Essex one from Colchester and two from further north and together they highlight how these artistic influences travelled into Essex, possibly from East Anglia.

Full record here: https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/1265995

27/03/2026

🎭Finds Friday: World Theatre Day

In honour of World Theatre Day, today’s find takes us straight into the lively world of Elizabethan and early Stuart London, where theatre, taverns and the Thames all intertwined.

Money pots were commonly employed in spaces where crowds gathered, including inns, alehouses, market stalls and the theatres. Their purpose was simple. Coins could be dropped in but not retrieved without breaking the pot. They acted as secure containers for the steady flow of small payments that kept public venues running.

At Bankside, home to the Globe, the Rose and the vibrant entertainment district south of the river, money pots would have been completely at home. This fragment found here by a mudlarker offers a glimpse into that busy world.

Recorded here: https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/1263679

20/03/2026

☀️Finds Friday: Spring Equinox

Today is the Spring Equinox, the point when day and night are in perfect balance and the first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere. This seasonal shift is one our prehistoric ancestors would have recognised and marked as an important moment in the year.

This Iron Age gold stater of Addedomaros, from near Colchester, is a fitting find for today. The coin features a spiral sun motif, a clear reminder of the returning light at this time of year. People living more than 2,000 years ago watched the same sky and paid close attention to the sun’s movement, just as we do at the equinox.

A small piece of gold, but a powerful link to how people in the past understood light, balance, and renewal during this turning point of the year.

Full record here: https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/1252418

06/03/2026

Finds Friday: International Women’s Day on 8th of March

This week’s find, found on the Foreshore at Limehouse, is a purple glass seal matrix dated between 1900 and 1915 with a die face engraved with the words ‘NOT WORDS BUT DEEDS’ in reverse.

This object likely relates to the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), which later gave rise to the suffragettes, whose motto was ‘Deeds, not words’. The colours of the movement’s flag were purple, white and green, with purple representing loyalty and dignity.

The WPSU was founded by Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters in 1903. ‘Deeds, not words’ represents the actions that suffragettes would undertake in their fight for Women to have the right to vote. Women finally achieved the same voting rights as men in 1928 under the Equal Franchise Act.

Its Limehouse findspot is especially meaningful: the area was one of the East End districts involved in Sylvia Pankhurst’s East London Federation of the Suffragettes, which brought together local branches including Limehouse. It was also the birthplace of prominent suffragette Julia Scurr, a leading activist for working‑class women.

The full record can be seen here: https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/1256727

13/02/2026

❤️Finds Friday 🕊️

With Valentine’s Day tomorrow, many of us think of hearts, flowers, and handwritten cards… but did you know that the earliest links between mid‑February and romance were actually inspired by birds?

By the 14th century, writers were noting that this time of year was believed to be when birds began choosing their mates. Geoffrey Chaucer even described Valentine’s Day as the day when “Whan every foul cometh there to chese his make,” firmly tying the season of natural courtship to notions of love and partnership.

So today’s medieval bird‑shaped find is perfectly timed; a reminder that people in the Middle Ages were just as inspired by the natural world as we are. Decorative mounts like this one are typically dated to the 12th century, and while their exact function is still debated, they may have have decorated caskets, adding both symbolism and charm to everyday household objects.

As the birds begin pairing up again this time of year, it feels fitting to let this little medieval bird lead us into the Valentine’s weekend.

Full record here: https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/1257096

29/01/2026

This morning was spent installing a new display at Colchester Castle Museum. It spotlights the recently acquired Mistley Torc and discusses other objects which date from the Middle Bronze Age from the Tendring district of Essex, highlighting the complex lives of our Prehistoric ancestors.

20/01/2026

This morning we attended the British Museum for the PAS and Treasure annual report launch. We were invited to talk about Essex’s first find to be declared Treasure under the 2023 amendment, which recognises objects of significance.

This object, depicting a panther resting its paw on the severed head of a decapitated native Briton, would have been fitted to a high status carriage.

Big cats represent the power of the Roman Empire, and the paw on the severed head, domination over its enemies.

This object blends Roman imagery with a native art style, to produce something that represents Rome’s conquest over Britain.

This is unparalleled in vehicle fittings across the Empire, making this example unique.

See the full record at: ESS-8AC18A

19/12/2025

🌟 Finds Friday

As Christmas approaches, this medieval silver finger-ring feels especially timely. Dating to AD 1400–1550, it bears the names Jasper, Melchior, and Balthazar: the Three Magi who followed the star to Bethlehem. In the Middle Ages, these names were believed to offer protection against illness and misfortune, making such rings powerful amulets as well as expressions of faith.

The Magi’s names often appeared in charms and prayers, especially those intended to ward off fever, epilepsy, and sudden death. People believed invoking these names could call on the Magi’s spiritual authority and the blessings of their journey to Christ.

Similar examples appear across medieval Europe, showing how deeply people sought spiritual and magical safeguards in daily life.

Full record here: https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/968039

05/12/2025

🐘 Finds Friday

This week’s highlight is a silver denarius struck at an African mint during Julius Caesar’s campaign, around 47–46 BC.

On one side, we see Venus, the goddess of love and Caesar’s divine ancestor.The reverse tells a story of origins: Aeneas, the Trojan hero, strides forward carrying the sacred Palladium in one hand and his father Anchises on his shoulder. This image evokes Rome’s mythic past and Caesar’s claim to destiny.

What makes this coin even more fascinating are the three stamped marks on Venus’ portrait. Long called “bankers’ marks,” these were once thought to test the silver. But new research suggests they were military or administrative validation marks, perhaps linked to pay or accounting during Caesar’s African campaign.

Recorded here: https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/1244948

21/11/2025

✝️ Finds Friday

This week’s find is an incomplete shale disc or roundel, dating to the 4th or 5th centuries and is a rare survival of a Christian object from Roman Britain.

One side carries the Chi-Rho symbol, an early Christian monogram formed from the Greek letters Χ (Chi) and Ρ (Rho).

The Chi-Rho became a key Christian emblem after Constantine’s conversion in the early 4th century. Finds like this provide rare evidence of Christianity in late Roman Britain.

There are a small number of shale roundels know from Britain including some associated with coin hoards.

Full record here: https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/1244418

14/11/2025

This week's Finds Friday object has caused some head scratching here at the Essex PAS HQ!

One face has been stamped with a 'W', the likes of which can be paralleled on lead cloth seals from Norwich, but the other depicts a religious scene that cannot be found elsewhere.

It appears to show Jesus's resurrection, with a haloed figure depicted stepping out from a sarcophagus holding a cross.

Religious imagery was not common on utilitarian objects, especially during the 17th century, which this object likely dates to.

This object has therefore been left us asking more questions than it has answered!

Let us know your thoughts on this object's purpose and meaning in the comments.

The full record, with thoughts from experts on both tokens and cloth seals, can be viewed here: https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/1243723

07/11/2025

🧨 Finds Friday

This sixpence of James I was minted in the very year that a plot to kill him shook England.

On this day, in 1605, just two days after the Gunpowder Plot was discovered, Guy Fawkes began to reveal the names of his co-conspirators under torture and the English government officially named Robert Catesby as a wanted man. The plotters had fled London and the failed attempt to blow up Parliament and assassinate the king had thrown England into turmoil.

With James' portrait on the obverse and a royal shield on the reverse, coins like this weren’t just currency, they were symbols of power and unity during a time of fear and conspiracy.

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