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Description: | An incomplete copper-alloy thimble of Post-Medieval date. It is machine made in two joining parts, the rim and most of the cap missing due to old breaks. The body is formed from a single rectangular sheet of copper-alloy that has been folded to produce the cylindrical form of the thimble, a vertical seam with traces of solder visible on one side. Where it narrows towards the top of the thimble there is a circumferential band of solder indicating the join between the sides and now missing cap. The sides of the thimble are covered with slightly unevenly applied squares produced by incised or stamped vertical and horizontal grooves, and separated by a series of three evenly spaced diagonal bands that run from top left to bottom right and are flanked by grooves. Traces of an added white metal coating or possibly gilding are visible in places. The thimble measures 21.59mm in height, 16.09mm in width/diameter at base, 0.41mm in thickness and 1.82g in weight. This thimble is of Post-Medieval date, similar to Dutch and English examples noted by Holmes (1991: figs. 6, 7a) that date to the 17th century AD, c.1620-1730 AD. A similar, silver, thimble is noted on the PAS database from Dorset (DOR-2FE7D8) and dated to the same late-17th century AD period.This thimble is relatively poorly preserved, however of greater interest is a small fragment of white paper that has remakably been preserved within the body of the thimble. This presumably served as packing to enable more comfortable usage of the thimble, although the possibility that it was a more significant object, such as a spell, deliberately protected within the thimble cannot be entirely ruled out. The paper is fragmentary in nature and was removed from the thimble by the finder. It reveals the remains of a handwritten text in a faded brown ink, much of which is illegible due to its preservation. Several words are decipherable over five lines of text and a possible reading of the text may be as follows: "Ship / [....]rket and[...] / [...]aye / [...] meal / T[..]e a B[u]shel [...]". This may be a simple list of things needed or to do, or perhaps a more coherent text of uncertain nature. The script appears to be contemporary with the thimble and is likely to be of later 17th century date (E. Martin, SCC pers. comm.). The paper fragment measures 99.44mm in length and 108.01mm in width.
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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