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Description: | Lead Alloy'Bill and Charlie' Replica of a Pilgrim Badge. Cast relief image of a bearded mask. The face has exaggerated brows and round staring eyes, a straight-sided nose modelled in particularly high relief, a beard shown as straight strokes, and drapery rendered as crude cross-hatching. A hole of diameter 2mm has been drilled at the high hairline. The back is entirely flat, and the object retains its leaden grey colour overall.Few English pilgrim badges depicted bearded subjects: the most commonly rendered male portrait subject, Thomas Becket, was always portrayed clean shaven. St John the Baptist, and the face of Christ as preserved on the Vernicle, were sometimes shown bearded. However, this image resembles no published example viewed by this reporter. The crude modelling, unparalleled status and the unpatinated state of the metal may support an identification of this object as a forgery. It is probably a 'Billy and Charlie' casting of 19th-century date, manufactured with the intention of deceiving antiquarian collectors; the products of such forgers are now of interest to collectors in their own right. The eponymous Bill and Charlie began their career as mudlarks on the Thames foreshore, where pilgrim badges were among the first objects they imitated. It is uncertain whether the hole drilled in this example was for its suspension, permitting it to be worn, or whether it signals its conversion to a fishing line weight.Suggested date: Modern, 1840-1860.Length: 42.7mm, Width: 21.6mm, Thickness: 4.3mm, Weight: 16.40gms.
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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