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Description: | A complete globular medieval steelyard weight, cast copper alloy and filled with lead. A 13.7mm diameter gap in the outer copper alloy surface on the underside, off-centre, shows where the molten lead would have been poured in.
The weight measures 63.4mm in diameter and stands 51.3mm tall (inclusive of loop, 71.9mm tall). The top is flattened and mounted by a triangular loop 8.1mm thick and with a central circular perforation 8.1mm in diameter. The top of the perforation is pulled slightly out of its circular shape, probably through use. The object weighs 1487g or 3lb 0.28oz.
Around the top of the weight, just below the flattened surface, is an incised frieze consisting of zig-zag lines between two horizontal lines. These zig-zags create triangles, every other of which (those with point downwards) is decorated with two horizontal incised lines.
Below the frieze and encircling the main body of the weight are three triangular shields, their long edges slightly curved outwards 'shield-like'. The first shield depicts a lion rampant, the arms of Poitou, and also for Edmund, Earl of Cornwall. The second, a double-headed eagle, are the arms of the Hansa merchants and also suggest a Roman Imperial connection, perhaps symbolically suggesting Edmund was 'King of the Romans'. The third shield depicts three chevrons and is the arms of de Clare. Edmund married Margaret de Clare in 1272.
Steelyard weights would have been made by Edmund on behalf of the king . Edmund died in 1300 and the use of steelyard weights banned in 1350, so this weight is likely to date between 1272 and 1300/ 1350. Copies of steelyard weights were also made. The originals tend to have the freize, as this one does, and the arms of England, Poitou and the Hansa merchants - of which this weight has two.
A steelyard weight from Hacheston in Suffolk has the same three shields, SF9678. | 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 | Creator: | Katie Hinds | Identifier: | http://www.finds.org.uk/database/artefac... | Language: | en-GB | Format: | text/html | Go to resource |
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