Description (Labels & Markings)
Handwritten label affixed to object reads:'475'.
Event Date
Author: Xingdi Fang

Context (Display)
Historic display label stored with object reads: 'TWO-HANDLED FLAGON with button on base, and 'VS' scratched on neck. Found at Gt. Chesterford, 1860. Braybrooke Collection 48.770'.
Event Date
Author: Margaret Comer

Context (References)
Neville, R.C. (1860). 'Recent Discoveries of Roman Remains at Great Chesterford, Essex.' Archaeological Journal, vol. xvii. p. 124 (illustrated)
Event Date 1860
Author: Imogen Gunn

Context (Field collection)
Found in Borough Field, January 1860.
Event Date 1/1860
Author: maa

Context (Found together / assemblage)
According to other IDNOs' catalogue cards, this was found in January 1860 'in the same 15 ft shaft in Borough Field as 1948.412 (Samian, Drag 32) 1948.500 (Colour-coated ware), 1948.575 (Coarse ware jar), 1948.668 (Coarse ware dish) and 1948.770 (Coarse ware jar); also found with three other objects not accounted for in 1948, when the collection came to the museum.'
Event Date 1/1860
Author: Margaret Comer

Context (References)
Hübner, Aemilivs (ed.). (1876). Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum. Volume VII: Inscriptiones Britanniae Latinae. 1332.6
Event Date 1876
Author: Imogen Gunn

Description (Physical description)
Flagon of reddish-buff ware, the bottom nearly flat with projecting button in the middle, domical body with narrow neck and everted lip, two handles from lip to upper part of body. Graffito VS scratched on outside
Event Date 1948
Author: maa

Context (References)
Collingwood, R.G. and Wright, R.P. (1995). The Roman Inscriptions of Britain. Frere, S.S. and Tomlin, R.S.O. (eds.), Volume II (Instrumentum Domesticum), Fascicule 8 (Graffiti on Coarse Pottery Cut Before and After Firing; Stamp on Coarse Pottery). RIB 2502-2505. Stroud: Alan Sutton. p. 32 (RIB 2503.12)
Event Date 1995
Author: Imogen Gunn

Description (Physical description)
Frere and Tomlin (1995): 'Graffito on the neck between the handles: VS.'
Event Date 1995
Author: Imogen Gunn

Description (Inscription)
Frere and Tomlin (1995): 'Presumably (librae) v s (emis). 'Five and a half (pounds)'.'
Event Date 1995
Author: Imogen Gunn

Context (Analysis)
Frere and Tomlin (1995) note: 'The figure is probably the weight of the vessel when empty. 5 1/2 librae is the equivalent of 1801 gm, a reasonable weight for an empty vessel (compare RIB 2503.11, 23, 27). If, however, the figure relates to extarii, (sextarii) v s(emis) rather than v s(extarii) should be read. 5 1/2 sextarii is the equivalent of 2.73 litres, whereas the capacity of the vessel seems to be only c. 2.2 litres' (p. 32).
Event Date 1995
Author: Imogen Gunn

Description (Physical description)
Flagon of reddish-buff ware with the bottom nearly flat with projecting button in the middle. It has a domical body with narrow neck and everted lip, two handles from lip to upper part of body. Graffito on the neck between the handles: 'VS', translating to 'five and a half (pounds)'.
Event Date 16/5/2023
Author: Imogen Gunn