Medieval Anglo-Saxon veil pin from Trumpington.
Here you can buy an early medieval veil pin modeled on the so-called Trumpington pin, once worn by an Anglo-Saxon woman.
The Trumpington pin is a filigree gold pin with garnet inlays from the 7th century AD. It was discovered in a pair with another pin together with the famous Trumpington Cross in the grave of a young Anglo-Saxon noblewoman in Trumpington, near Cambridge.
The original finds are on display at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Cambridge (UK).
The Trumpington pins were probably used to fasten a veil or fine garment belonging to the buried young Anglo-Saxon woman. They were connected by a gold chain and testify to the aristocratic or even royal status of the deceased.
The original Trumpington pins were made of gold and garnet, but we offer replicas made of bronze with red glass inlays.
The pin measures 8 x 1.1 cm and, like its historical counterpart, has an eyelet on the back for attaching a chain or ribbon.
The pin is very sharp and glides easily through fabric, yet is sturdy enough not to bend during use.
Veil pins and headscarf pins were very common in the traditional dress of Anglo-Saxon women in the early Middle Ages and have been preserved in large numbers in archaeological finds.
The Trumpington pins were found together with a precious cross made of gold and garnet on the skeleton of a young woman aged between 14 and 18, who had been buried in a bed burial, which was extremely rare in Anglo-Saxon England.
The burial of the young noblewoman is one of the earliest documented Christian burials in Britain and probably dates from between 650 and 680 AD.
As the first Anglo-Saxon converts to Christianity came from noble families and the faith then spread throughout all social classes, the young woman buried in Trumpington undoubtedly belonged to the nobility or even the royal family.
Although she was buried like a pagan with valuable possessions such as garnet pins, an iron knife, glass beads and a necklace, the presence of the precious cross identifies the deceased as an early convert to Christianity.
Thus, the Trumpington pins, together with the gold cross that was found, are remarkable evidence of the early work of the English Church after the Pope sent St Augustine to England in 597 AD to convert the pagan Anglo-Saxon kings.
