Continental Quoit-Brooches

Abstract

Ring-brooches, which probably were a Celtic invention, started as very simple objects. They consisted of an open ring and a pin ending in a loop which could move along the ring. As ornaments they were not very showy, as their only decoration lay in the shape of their terminals, but as dress-fasteners they were no doubt practical. They seem, however, to have had one drawback: when the ring was too thin or made of poor metal the terminals could be wrenched apart and the brooch could be twisted out of shape when roughly handled. That this possibility existed can be concluded from one of its subsequent developments: the penannular brooch was sometimes turned into an annular one.