Ukraine: Fifth Century Disc Brooch Seized by Police

 

                                 State Prosecutor                                 

Prosecutors in Lviv Oblast have brought a case to court concerning the attempted sale of a 5th-century archaeological object of considerable significance: a silver fibula brooch with a gilded surface (Намагався продати фібулу-брошку V ст.: судитимуть мешканця Борислава 17.11.2025). The announcement, published on the website of the Lviv Regional Prosecutor’s Office, outlines yet another instance in which an important early medieval find was diverted toward the antiquities market rather than reported through proper heritage channels.

According to investigators, the object was discovered in March 2025 by a 45-year-old local resident near Boryslav, not far from the Tysmenytsia River. The artefact has been identified as a silver fibula dating to the second half of the 5th century. Under Ukrainian law, such a find is classified as treasure and is considered state property due to its special historical, scientific, artistic, and cultural value. Fibulae of this period are not merely decorative items; they are key chronological and cultural markers, often associated with elite dress and identity in the turbulent centuries that followed the decline of Roman authority in the region.

Rather than notifying the relevant cultural heritage authorities, the man allegedly offered the brooch for sale through an online auction platform. As in similar cases, the act of commercialization without reporting the find forms the basis of the criminal charge. He is accused under Part 1 of Article 193 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, which addresses the illegal appropriation of discovered treasure possessing particular historical, scientific, artistic, or cultural significance.

The brooch has since been seized and transferred for safekeeping to the National Museum of the History of Ukraine, where it will be preserved and studied in a proper institutional context. The case has now been referred to court, and proceedings are ongoing in accordance with Ukrainian law.

The case underscores a familiar problem: even a single object, when removed from its archaeological context and placed on the market, represents not only a legal violation but also the loss of irreplaceable contextual information. The recovery of the fibula ensures its preservation, but the circumstances of its discovery—unrecorded and undocumented—inevitably leave gaps in the historical record that no subsequent legal action can fully repair.

To be honest though, I am a bit puzzled by this find, the titchy photo does not help. It is a small disc brooch ('button brooch'?) with a circumferentially-grooved rim and what looks like tow opposed pairs ofr relief spirals, a four-spiral disc brooch? It looks very similar to Anglo-Saxon ones that have five or six spirals generally, there are some merovingian ones... and....? I cannot really place it among the other stuff from eastern Europe in general. Is it an import? An 'out of place' artefact (displaced by the antiquities market or misreported findspot)? or a fake? What is it? Anybody?