The largest of these (Fig. 61) consists of a solid cylindrical rod of silver, ¼ inch in thickness, bent into an incomplete circle 5 inches in diameter. The pin, which wants the point, has a bulbous head of the same character as those previously described, but the prickly ornamentation is merely indicated by incised lines crossing each other diagonally. The other hemisphere of the bulbous head of the pin is decorated with a circle enclosing an equal-armed rectangular cross. The top of the pin presents a similar ornament, which might be described as a St. Andrew’s Cross; but there is nothing in the character of either of these figures which might not be present in a purely geometric ornament, and they need not therefore be supposed to possess a symbolic significance. The ends of the penannular ring of the brooch, instead of being furnished with bulbs, are slightly flattened and expanded, and their ornamentation consists of a simple dotted margin, with a triplet of larger dots placed in triangular form at the extremities of the expansions of the ring.
Other two brooches of this form are smaller, and their pins have no bulbous heads, but are simply looped on to the ring of the brooch. The smaller of the two is perfectly plain; the larger has the expanded ends of the ring ornamented with zoomorphic interlaced work, slightly engraved in the silver with a very fine point.
It is thus evident that the special peculiarity of these brooches is their excessive size, their massiveness and solidity of construction, the bulbous form of their terminal expansions, and their prickly and engraved ornamentation.
We pass now to the examination of the neck and arm rings found with them. The commonest form of the neck rings is a circlet of about 5 inches diameter, composed of a series of thicker and finer strands, twisted spirally together, and passing at the ends into flattened expansions, terminating in hooks. One, 5¼ inches diameter (Fig. [62]), is composed of two thick strands, spirally intertwisted with two sets of finer wires, each set consisting of a plait of two very thin wires, bordered by a single fine wire on each side. These lie in the hollows of the twists between the thicker strands, and add greatly to the beauty of the necklet. The ends of all the strands are united together, forming terminal flattened expansions, which are provided with recurving hooks to fasten the ring when worn. There are ten examples of this type, differing only in the arrangements of thicker strands, with twisted wires of various degrees of fineness.
Fig. 62.—Neck Ring of Silver found at Skaill (5¼ inches diameter).
Another variety, an example of which is shown in Fig. 63, is formed of seven hammered rods of equal thickness, closely interplaited like the thong of a whip. The central portion of the ring is a solid knob, oval in shape, from which the strands decrease in thickness towards the extremities, where they are soldered together and drawn out into a cylindrical tapering rod, which is coiled into a spiral termination, and the two ends recurved so as to hook into each other when the ring was worn.
Fig. 63.—Neck Ring of Silver found at Skaill.
Another of these interplaited rings (Fig. [64]) is formed of three plaits of two strands each, spirally twisted together, and intertwisted with double strands of very small wires, also plaited together, which lie in the interstices of the larger plaits. The thicker wires taper slightly towards the extremities, where they are soldered into solid flattened ends, one of which terminates in a hook, while the other is furnished with an eye to fasten the ring when worn. The flattened ends are ornamented with punched triangular depressions, having a raised dot in the centre.