Christmas roll

In the end, the exit from 24.12.2022 was more successful than I expected. After a few ordinary finds, a beautiful bell saw the light of day.

It was Christmas Eve 2022, when we decided to go to the rolling field behind our home village in Zdar region. A few degrees above zero and the sun made our morning walk more pleasant. We paddled around the field, a few socialist coins in our pockets, buttons and a lot of rubbish in a garbage bag. After a while, my detector beeped again, showing colored metal under the surface. I didn't hesitate to shovel out the dirt, which immediately revealed something shiny. I could see fine decoration and an eye, so I immediately thought it might make a nice bead-shaped pendant. However, upon closer inspection and rinsing it with water, I became suspicious because the marble had a hole at the bottom. It was a bell! And such a tiny one, perfectly decorated and gold-plated at first glance. Moreover, after careful and thorough cleaning, it still rings beautifully.

I tried to find a similar one on the internet, but to no avail. So I contacted Josef Hložek PhD from the Institute of Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. I sent him the bell for closer examination. The doctor willingly took it up and sent me the results of the examination.

The skateboard is primarily made of an alloy of silver and gold plus trace amounts of other metals. It's also gold-plated on the surface. To quote the doctor's words, "Interestingly, however, the Hungarian nobility was also involved in the area, and bells can be found on garments to the southeast (rather more so than in the domestic environment). Moreover, the roll is quite well made, and even considering the character of the eye, we are still leaning more towards the clothing part. A dumbbell-shaped hole, or rather a slit ending in two holes, is found in most of the bells of the younger medieval-new age'.

The relatively innocent find thus turned out to be an exceptionally decorated bell, which probably had an ornamental function on the garment. Whether it was part of the clothing of a high-ranking member of the Hungarian nobility and whether it belongs to the Middle Ages or to the modern period cannot be said for sure. However, the roll will enrich the collection of the Regional Museum of Žďár nad Sázavou.

Finally, I would like to thank Dr. Hložek for his helpfulness and helpfulness during the research of the bell.

Luboš Bartůněk

Roller skateboard