Copper alloy book-marker in the form of a pair of tweezers with rectangular end-plates and a penannular slide ring around the shaft. The junction of the suspension loop and shaft is marked by slight projections, perhaps to prevent the ring rising onto the loop. The ring would have been pushed down the shaft to clip the marker over a page. The end plates are decorated with lines of punched triangles in geometric patterns. Each line is a double, with the triangles set facing outwards. On one side there is a saltire, on the other a small saltire within a frame. From VR72-80, Victoria Road, Winchester, Hampshire. Excavated by Winchester Archaeology Section, 1972-1980.
Book marker of copper-alloy
Medieval, probably late medieval
Found in the 1970s during excavations by Winchester Museums Archaeology Section at Victoria Road, Winchester, Hampshire
The book marker, or page holder has the punched triangle decoration typical of the later medieval period, and also found on the mirror case shown elsewhere on this website. Although it was from a site outside the precinct walls of nearby Hyde Abbey, literacy would have been fairly rare amongst lay people in the medieval suburb, and perhaps the book marker was originally used by a cleric from the abbey.
