Find Spot record 15338 - Find from Land North of Little Boar's Wood

<1> Portable Antiquities Scheme, Various, Portable Antiquities Data Import, LVPL2251 (Digital Archive). SCH5212.

An incomplete post-Medieval to Modern cast lead novelty toy in the form of a human head (c. 1820- c. 1925). Cast in the form of a 3-dimensional human head with raised eyebrows, a wrinkled brow, a round nose, ears and prominent cheeks. In the position of the mouth is a rectangular cutaway. The head is wearing a cap. The cap is decorated with a series of radiating lines from a central point. Previously believed to be knife or dagger terminals these objects have now been identified as novelty toys. 'Commonly made from cast Iron or a tin alloy such as pewter they therefore corrode very quickly in the ground and give the impression of some age. The jaw piece fitted into the recessed rectangular slot in the head and a small fulminate charge was placed in between the butting faces. When dropped on a hard surface they would explode with a load bang and the jaw piece would fly out. They were available with a variety of different heads some of which modelled famous personalities of the time', pers. comm. Garry Crace, 7/10/2014. Similar objects are recorded on the Portable Antiquities Scheme database: See finds: HAMP1432; IOW-0B41C2; IOW-219932; IOW-57F067; IOW-C8BEC7; LVPL-938282; NMS-276C13; SF-1CE706; SUSS-6AAFA5; SUSS-8ED626 and YORYM-06DD31.LVPL-938282 has a jaw attached.

<2> The British Museum, Portable Antiquities Scheme Online Database, LVPL2251 (Web Site). SCH5176.