|
Date: |
|
Description: | A worn and incomplete cast lead cloth (alnage) seal of late medieval or early post-medieval date. 'Disc 1' is presumably consituted by the central element on the seal's rivet. It bears an device which is difficult to discern: an ornate shield depicting the arms of England surmounted by a crown and flanked to the left by a small ?rose (Geoff Egan pers. comm. 01/11/2006). Disc 2 bears a 'medieval' crown with central fleur-de-lys rendered such that the hoop can be seen from 'below'; there is a further fleur-de-lys central near the back of the hoop. Below the second fleur (and the crown), to the right, is what appears as a star or spur rowel, but what is most likely to be a sun. Below, to the left, is what appears to be a worn rose with either five or six petals. A similar (royal) device can be seen on a late medieval cloth seal illustrated in Egan (1994, 159; fig. 8; see also Saunders ed. 2001, 50-51, 78; ref. 10). Egan (1994, 23) notes that a sun and rose were popular initial marks on English coinage around the end of the 'Wars of the Roses'. Sadly the legend, which might have given the provenace (county), is completely missing. The dating for such seals is currently not precise, but it is most likely to date to the late 15th century (Geoff Egan pers. comm. 01/11/2006).
Original Image | Publisher: | http://finds.org.uk | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Identifier: | http://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/r... | Go to resource |
|
|