Another brooch, the pin of which is gone, is a similar ring of hammered silver, ¼ inch thick, and 6¾ inches diameter, with bulbous knobs, which are plain, though the collars and terminal expansions are ornamented with a T-like fret, and with bands of triangles filled with parallel lines.
Among the other brooches there are three which present a different variety in the ornamentation of their bulbous extremities. The largest of these is formed of a solid cylindrical bar of silver, ⅜ of an inch in thickness, bent into an incomplete circle 8 inches in diameter, and terminating in bulbous expansions 1½ inches in diameter. The pin of this brooch is gone, but if it bore the same proportion to the diameter of the ring as is exhibited by that of the brooch first described, it could not have been much under 20 inches in length. The bulbous knobs of this brooch are differently ornamented on their opposite hemispheres. The surface of the one hemisphere is covered with a peculiar prickly ornamentation, which intensifies their suggestive resemblance to thistle heads. These prickles have been cut out of the solid. They are square at the base, cylindrical, and slightly tapering at the points. They stand somewhat over an eighth of an inch in height, and each has been separately finished in the upper part by a hollow drill. The opposite hemispheres of the bulbs are ornamented by engraved circular patterns of interlaced work (Fig. 68), and the collar of the expanded part is also ornamented with a running pattern of interlaced work (Fig. 70.)
Fig. 60.—Silver Brooch found at Skaill (5½ inches diameter). ]
The second of these three brooches (Fig. 60), is equally massive and handsome, though smaller. The ring is a solid cylindrical bar of silver, ¾ inch in thickness, bent into an incomplete oval 5½ inches in diameter. The bulbous ends of the penannular ring are decorated on the one hemisphere with the prickly ornament which has just been described, and on the other hemisphere by a T-shaped fret, enclosed in a circle placed in a lozenge-shaped space, bordered by incised lines, as shown in the woodcut under the figure of the brooch.
The third of these brooches consists of a penannular ring, formed of a solid cylindrical rod of silver ¼ inch thick, and 6½ inches diameter. It wants the pin, but the head, which is still on the ring, is furnished with a tapering projection, which fitted into a socket in the upper end of the pin. The bulbous extremities are not ornamented on one hemisphere with the prickly ornament, but have the one hemisphere plain and the other decorated with patterns of zoomorphic character (Figs. 75 and 76), while the bulbous head of the pin, which still remains on the ring of the brooch, has the remarkable anthropomorphic ornamentation shown in Fig. 77, and on the circular top of the pin-head is seen the interlaced ornament shown in Fig. 69.