Ball-type penannular brooch with thistle pattern

Description

A silver brooch in a thistle pattern. This is an example of a ball-type penannular brooch, which would have functioned as a dress or cloak fastener. The brooch has a silver penannular ring and has two solid globular terminals with criss-cross brambled decoration (hence the term thistle brooch) and terminals with the decorated ring ends extending beyond them. The pin is fitted into a thistle head with an expanded vertical terminal. The upper shank of the pin is rounded but the lower section is square, ending in a point. It has been suggested that this brooch is a nineteenth-century reproduction. However, the details of its manufacture and the slightly misshapen state of the pin do not support such speculation.