Brooches or Fibulae, Birrens, Middlebie

Brooches were used to secure clothing during this period, and were of several types. One of the largest objects in this selection of finds from Birrens Roman Fort is a distinctive trumpet shaped bronze broach, and the remains of the top of a hinged brooch (identified as a derivitive head stud brooch).   Roman decorative pieces    Copper alloy objects were often tinned or silvered. Tinning simply requires the object to be dipped in molten tin, while silvering was achieved by beating out silver foil and attaching it to the object with lead/tin solder.   Tinning was used for helmets, scabbard and belt fittings, cavalry harness and even armour. Silvering was used on cavalry equipment. Dagger sheaths were sometimes decorated with silver, brass or gold inlays. From the second century AD onwards enamel inlay became popular.