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Description: | Globular copper-alloy steelyard weight with lead core. It is 39 mm in diameter and 32 mm tall up to a flattened top. In the centre of the top is an integrally cast triangular suspension lug with a circular perforation, which brings the height up to 42 mm. There is no evidence for any iron pins attaching the lead to the copper-alloy sheath; off-centre on the base is the hole through which the lead was poured, with a slightly too small copper-alloy cap covering it. Around the top is an engraved frieze consisting of a zig-zag line between two horizontal lines. Below this frieze are three shields with arms, all cast in relief. One is a lion rampant, for Edmund Earl of Cornwall, but reversed. Another is two chevrons, in error for three chevrons which is the arms of de Clare. The third is a chevron between three stars or flowers; the two in chief have six points, the one in the base has eight. Edmund, Earl of Cornwall, married Margaret de Clare in 1272 and died in 1300; many steelyard weights, especially those with cast heraldry, have these two shields and it may be that Edmund had a monopoly on their production. This weight, however, may be an unofficial copy as there are mistakes in the arms. It weighs 277g, which is 9.75 oz. Steelyard weights do tend to have rather unusual weights; the two in Salisbury Museum are 5 lb 15.3 oz and 4 lb 4.2 oz, and the recently discovered example from Fordham, Cambridgeshire is 2 lb 1.35 oz. The use of the steelyard was banned in 1350. | Format: | text/html | License: | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ | Publisher: | The Portable Antiquities Scheme | Rights holder: | The Portable Antiquities Scheme | Subjects: | archaeology | Temporal: | 1272
1350 | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Identifier: | http://www.finds.org.uk/database/artefac... | Language: | en-GB | Format: | text/html | Go to resource |
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