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Description: | Incomplete fragment of a two part carved stone mould for the production of a three dimensional lead alloy (pewter) miniature or toy of probable early post-medieval date (1500-1650). The mould is made from a relatively soft sedimentary rock, probably a calcareous mudstone (siltstone) dating from the Jurassic horizon. The mould has been shaped into an elongated sub-rectangular tablet, of which only the top 1/3 has been found. One face of the mould has been smoothed and polished; this face has had the intricate design carved into it. The other faces of the tablet are un-worked and have roughly trimmed to form relatively uniform flat surfaces. The break across the mould is irregular and slightly abraded, suggesting that the damage is old and probably occurred before deposition. At one corner of the front face of the mould a small conical shaped peg hole has been cut into the stone (diameter 9.2mm, depth 6.6mm). This would have been one of several peg holes which would have joined the two halves of the mould together and prevented slippage during casting. The mould measures 88.3mm length, 73.2mm width, is 18.9mm thick and weighs 246.47 grams. There are two designs carved onto the fragment of mould. The main design is that of a ornately decorated sword; to the left of the sword is a smaller unidentified design. The carved sword is positioned centrally and the mould is broken just beneath the hilt on the forte of the blade. The lower part of the blade (foible) is missing. The pommel of the hilt is ovoid (or acorn) in shape and tapers into the handle. The handle is formed from two bulbous sub-triangular pieces; the first expands to a mid point, whilst the second tapers to the cross-piece guard. The pommel and the handle are both highly decorative. The pommel is decorated with a series of small drilled pellets, whilst the handle has a series of curvilinear lines forming petal shapes, and ring and dot decoration. The ring and dots are arranged in patterns of five with a central ring and dot with the others placed around the edges in a diamond pattern (similar to that seen on dice). The centre of the ring and dots (like the pellets above) seem to be drilled as they are extremely even and similar in size. The cross piece of the hilt is set at right angles to the blade and handle. It is rectangular in shape and decorated with a series of vertical hached bars and ring and dots. At the four corners of the cross bar are drilled circular holes, these may be decorative or could be to ensure the metal flowed evenly to all four corners. The subsequent waste would then be trimmed from the finished object. On the right hand side of the mould attached to the pommel and cross bar is a curved hand (back-hand?) guard. This is decorated with chevrons which would have looked similar to rope like wire. From the centre of the two ends of the cross-piece, out-turned curved quillons (or guards) extend. These are decorated with similar chevron patterns and end in irregular sub spherical terminals. The blade of the sword has a central longitudinal groove extending from the cross piece of the hilt. This grove divides the upper part (?) of the sword into two vertical panels. Each panel is decorated with a mirrored design of curvi-linear sworls. A series of small channels have been cut from the outer edge of the mould to the central design. These are to allow the metal to be poured into the mould and for the air or gases to be released during casting. The incised mould to the left hand side of the central sword is irregular in shape (being broadly pentagonal or the shape of a bishop's mitre). It is decorated with a much debased fleur-de-lys formed from two curvi-linear arches with a central vertical, diamond terminal, and piece. Similar channel have been cut from the side of the mould to fill the design with metal. The mould has been damaged at the edge where the channel starts; however it seems as if the channel originally had a conical exit to aid the filling of the mould. The reuse or multi design incorporation in mould is common. This is likely to be due to the expense of the stone originally and the ease of carving. Many post medieval moulds have several faces which have been used to carve designs. The purpose of this design has been suggested as possibly being used either as a belt chape, a small lid or even possibly a chape for the scabbard of the toy sword. This final possibility is likely as the width of the blade is very similar to that of the width of the chape. The mould is a mid grey colour and has been abraded and damaged in the soil. There are a number of large scratches present on all faces and these are most likely to be due to movement in the soil. The dating of the mould relies on parallels of both lead alloy miniatures / toys and of contemporary sword designs. The overall design of the sword is similar to that of European Swords of the 16th Century. The back hand guard resembling rope is a typical XVIth Century armour decoration. The Wallace collection (catalogue Vol II Arms 1962) has two 16th century examples with similar style quillions (A524 German & A550 Italian). During the post 16th Century period the quillions become much more elaborate resulting in the cup hilt by the 17th century (Pers. Comm. Paul Thompson). Similar lead alloy toys have recently been published by Geoff Egan and Hazel Forsyth (Forsyth 2005). In this catalogue of material from London several base-metal swords are seen. The closest parallels for the design present on this mould can be seen in figures 1.19 and 1.21 (pages 86-87) which are dated to the 16th and 17th centuries respectively.
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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