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Description: | An incomplete copper alloy medieval seal matrix. The seal matrix has the stub of a projection loop at the top, attached to a conical handle which flares towards the flat base which is broadly circular in plan. Below the stub of the suspension loop, there appears to be a collar of two horizontal ribs. The conical handle is hexagonal in section.
The broadly circular base contains the recessed design which would have been imprinted in use on a seal (for a description of the use of seal matrices see Cherry, 1997). The design is a quatrefoil, possibly cruciform leaves (cf. PAS record IOW-EC7B04), within a broadly circular groove. The design is slightly off centre. There appears to be an inscription around the design, outside the circular groove, as is common with medieval seal matrices (see Tonnochy, 1952, p.xxv). There has been loss of material around the circumference of the base and the inscription is unclear.
The seal matrix has a brown patina, and where this is corroded and chipped away a pitted green surface is visible, particularly around the edge of the base, and on the collar and stub of the suspension loop. The seal matrix is 13.8 mm long from the stub of the suspension loop to the base and the base has a diameter of 11.9mm. The seal matrix has a mass of 2.87g.
Cherry (1997, p.124) states that: "There was a widespread fashion among all classes for sealing, from the late twelfth to the fourteenth century." He further adds that, "...in the thirteenth century people who did not have a seal borrowed one, and around 1300 any legal document which lacked a seal was suspect." (1997, p128). Based on the above, a late twelfth to fourteenth century date is most likely. | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Creator: | Slarke, Duncan - Portable Antiquities Scheme | Identifier: | http://www.findsdatabase.org.uk/hms/pas_... | Language: | en-GB | Go to resource |
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