This composite toiletry set of tweezers, nail cleaner and ear scoop would originally have hung from a suspension ring.

The use of nail cleaners and toiletry sets appears to have developed in the later 1st century AD and became more widespread in the 2nd century.

They are often found in large numbers on temple or shrine sites, where they were probably deposited deliberately as votive offerings, although single finds, such as this example, are more likely to reflect casual loss.

The ear scoop is broken at both ends, but enough survives to show that it had a flat, perforated circular terminal and a flattened scoop at the opposite end.

The nail cleaner is of Eckardt’s ‘Baldock’ type, a form characteristic of southeastern Roman Britain. It has an elongated, lozenge-shaped body and a large, perforated head set at a right angle to the body. The main body tapers to a forked terminal formed by a deep notch, and each face is decorated with a fine marginal groove.

Copious filing marks on the tweezers’ surfaces likely relate to finishing processes associated with manufacture. The tweezers were formed from a single folded piece of sheet metal, with a decorative groove running along both outer edges, a feature typical of those found in composite sets. The arms are roughly trapezoidal in shape and flare steadily towards their now bent and distorted terminals.