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Description: | A complete globular cast copper-alloy medieval steelyard weight with lead core. It is c65mm in diameter and 72.4mm tall, it has a flattened top. In the centre of the top is an integrally cast triangular suspension lug with a circular perforation. It weighs circa 1247g. There is no evidence for any iron pins attaching the lead to the copper-alloy sheath; on the base is an irregularly shaped scar, which may have originally have been the area of a hole, through which the molten lead was poured, with a copper-alloy cap covering it. Around the top is an engraved frieze consisting of a zig-zag lines between two horizontal lines. The upper triangles formed by the zig-zag all have three transverse grooves across them. Below this frieze are three square topped shields with arms, all cast in relief. The first shield depicts three lions passant, the arms for England, the second depicts a lion rampant, the arms for Edmund, Earl of Cornwall and the final shield depicts a double-headed eagle, Imperial arms indicating that the user was symbolically 'King of the Romans' which Edmund, Earl of Cornwall was. Most of the steelyard weights which have been recorded in Suffolk have three shields, which normally but not in this case, include the three chevrons that is the arms of de Clare, and a Lion rampant for Edmund, Earl of Cornwall. Edmund married Margaret de Clare in 1272 and died in 1300; as many steelyard weights, especially those with cast heraldry, have these two shields and it may be that Edmund had a monopoly on their production. Other weights with unrecognisable or fictional arms are believed to be unofficial copies. The use of the steelyard was banned in 1350.
Original Image | Publisher: | http://finds.org.uk | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Identifier: | http://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/r... | Go to resource |
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