Chemical Composition: ICP-MS/AAA data from sample, Bronze:
Cu, 90.27; Sn, 9.47; Pb, 0.07; Zn, 0.006; Fe, 0.04; Ni, 0.02; Ag, 0.02; Sb, 0.11; As, less than 0.10; Bi, less than 0.025; Co, less than 0.01; Au, less than 0.02; Cd, less than 0.002
J. Riederer
Chemical Composition: XRF data from Tracer
Alloy: Bronze
Alloying Elements: copper, tin
Other Elements: lead, iron, arsenic
K. Eremin, January 2014
Technical Observations: The greater part of the surface consists of red and green areas that have been waxed, although a few areas of shiny metal are exposed as well. The whitish residues in the recesses are probably blanched wax. Some clay-like brown remains on the inside of the terminals could be either from burial or from the mold.
The open ring shape (c. 7 mm in diameter) is devoid of decoration over around half of the central span of the ring. Each side, as it approaches the terminal, is decorated with a repeated nodular pattern modeled to resemble a sequence of alternating rounded and thin spool-shaped beads. There is a hollowed convex drum-like terminal at each end. The object was cast in one piece. Exactly how it was shaped is not clear, but the shapes seem to indicate that it was modeled in wax. The fine band on both ends of the terminals and the end of each bead is decorated with serrations. It is not clear whether these decorations were made in the wax or the metal.
The surface is worn and has oxidized to a dark brown in some areas. Some of the corrosion products seem to have been removed mechanically. The metal is abraded flat to bare metal in the center of the undecorated area and preserves coarse file marks that run generally in the direction of the ring, with a few larger file marks running across it.
Francesca G. Bewer (submitted 2012)
