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Antiquities » Celtic » Decorative Mounts

The distinctive decoration of the British Iron Age consists of trumpet- and comma-shaped motifs executed in iron or copper-alloy with champ levé enamelled detailing. Items ornamented in this manner required considerable skill, time and resources in their manufacture and they must be interpreted as belonging to aristocratic British nobles who could afford to commission them. A recurrent theme is the division of a circle into three equal parts, or the use of three ‘spokes’ radiating from a central ‘hub’. early Irish and Welsh literature places great stress on ‘triads’ – groups of three – and it may be that the Celtic peoples saw the number three as sacred.