IV.—PORTION OF A BRONZE SWORD. (No. 546.)
The weight of the specimen, inclusive of the incrustation, was 585 grains; it was about 1½ inch in length, and varied from about 5-8ths to 7-8ths of an inch in thickness. A sketch of a section of the specimen is annexed.
No. 546.
Piece of a Bronze
Sword. Sepulchre IV.
Dimensions stated in
fractions of an inch.
The whole of the specimen was coated with an irregular layer or layers of matter, varying in chemical and physical characters and in thickness. In the centre, where the crust was removed, the solid metal varied from about 4-8ths to 5-8ths of an inch in thickness.
DR. PERCY'S ANALYSIS.
One side was chiefly incrusted with irregular patches of dull earthy non-crystalline matter, of varying shades of green and brown, which were found to consist of green carbonate and oxychloride of copper in different proportions; a few minute pale green needle-like crystals were noticed on the other surface; there were also observed irregular thin layers or patches of green (found to be green carbonate of copper, in some places containing more or less of oxychloride of copper) and blue crystals (found to be blue carbonate of copper) of varying tints and lustre. One end of the specimen was covered with a dark green crust with a velvety lustre, which was found to consist of minute transparent crystals of oxychloride of copper; the opposite end, which was flat, and had the appearance of having been cut or rubbed, was chiefly coated with deep red non-crystalline red oxide of copper; and a depression on the surface was lined with the dark green velvety crust; on the edges, where the outer part of the crust had been broken off, was a dull white opaque layer of peroxide of tin, and on either side of it were layers of dark red compact red oxide of copper, having cavities here and there filled with ruby-red brilliant transparent crystals of the same substance. When the outer incrustation had been subsequently removed, these substances were found to extend more or less over the surface underneath.