Although locally produced, it may have connections to Anglo-Saxon metalworkers as it closely resembles designs from a fragment of a hanging-bowl frame dated as pre-625 (probably 600 AD), from the Sutton Hoo hoard.

[3] It is thought to pre-date early medieval refurbishments of the Crannóg (a type of Bronze Age river dwelling), and it is likely that at some point it was "pushed down between the timbers to hide it" from attackers or raiders.

[2] The terminals are shaped as stylized animal heads, whose mouths (or snouts) face each other to form the opening gap for the pin, with small protuberances at these points indicating their ears.

Both the terminals and the ring contain panels of red enamel and inlaid millefiori platelets with full and semi-circle patterns arranged in cross shapes.

A pair of copper-alloy coils are banded loosely around the ring and may have functioned as additional fastening devices for cloth; each has a sharp and a blunt ending.