The two objects were found during excavations in 1902 on the site of a Roman building in Greenwich Park, and were deposited in the British Museum. The first is part of a scabbard chape, probably of late 2nd or 3rd-century date; the second, which may be a furniture mount, is a small plaque elaborately decorated with a female bust beneath a floral shield. These are rare and important pieces: true ivories are uncommon not only in Roman Britain but over much of the Continent, and there seems little doubt that both objects are imports.

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