English: A gilt bronze pendant 34mm long, 25mm wide at the widest point, and of metal 2mm thick. The pendant is axe-shaped, with a lengthened stem, and with modelled and chip-carved pair of bird's or beast's heads arising from the outer corners of the'axe-blade'. The surface of the axe-shape has a double-framed outline, and encloses an interlace pattern formed of a triple-strand ribbon, i.e. a ribbon with two median grooves. In the upper part of the pendant this forms a simple three-strand plait with asymmmetrical loops, but in the lower section it develops into three separate strands looped around one another, not all of which have coherent extensions beyond the points at which the ribbons cross. These incomplete ribbons are assembled in such a way as to suggest the limbs of a disintegrated animal without actually containing any recognisably zoomorphic detail. There is a reddish-brown finish to the gilding which may be the result of the deposit of some chemical or organic matter on the object when lost or buried. The reverse is without ornament, but has the remains of a blackish substance forming a square strap aligned with the vertical stem of the axe-pendant. It may indeed be a residue of a leather strap, for a central bronze rivet passes through it into the back of the metal plate, and there is a further accumulation of corrosion products near the top of the stem, perhaps concealing another rivet.

Axe-shaped pendants from other contexts are usually associated with horse-harness furniture, and especially occur in conjunction with circular discs as ornamental pendants from them. In such cases the three-strand interlace, often with zoomorphic details, is typical, especially in East Anglian contexts of the later sixth and early seventh centuries. These pendants however are normally larger and wider than the present example. Axe-shaped gilt pendants with zoomorphic chip-carving from Barham and Coddenham are probably on the later side, while those found in context with their bridle in the equestrian grave at Sutton Hoo Mound 17 are probably among the earlier examples. The Sutton Hoo harness also includes smaller pendants (not axe-shaped), with human faces on them. The present example is more along that scale, and although the general axe-like shape of the item, and the paired birds' heads and three-strand interlace show clear connections with the examples mentioned, this present specimen is perhaps a 'small pendant' from a bridle context like the small Sutton Hoo mounts, rather than part of the primary or more massive ornaments. Of course it may have been from an unusually small set, perhaps for a palfrey. In either case, the black marks on the back appear to derive from a strap terminalwhich hung down from another mountso that this piece could be suspended below it. It is probably East Anglian work, of high quality, of the period approx 570-630 AD.