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Description: | A complete copper alloy 14th century personal, but anonymous seal matrix. The die of the seal is circular in plan with a diameter of 16.84mm. Carved in negative is the inscription PRIVE SV which translates from French as ?I am private?. This inscription runs around an image of a plumed bird, facing right. The shaft of the seal matrix is conical, six sided and terminates in a square loop with pointed top and circular perforation. The overall length of the matrix is 19.58mm and it weighs 5.10g. The overall patina of the matrix is dark green. There is some damage to the matrix where the patina has been scratched away to reveal the shiny bronze surface below.
Harvey and McGuinness, 1990, note in their book, A guide to British Medieval seal, page 88, that after 1300 seals became much smaller with the owners name often omitted. They were often inscribed in French, as with this example, and the inscriptions were much more imaginative. With the example recorded here, ?I am private? refers to the document that was being sealed. | 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: | 1300
1400 | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Creator: | Caroline McDonald | Identifier: | http://www.finds.org.uk/database/artefac... | Language: | en-GB | Format: | text/html | Go to resource |
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