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Description: | A cast lead-alloy weight, probably dating from the Late Medieval period.The weight is rectangular in plan, its four sides sloping inwards, towards the top, where a rim surrounds a relief-moulded design. The central feature of this design takes the form of a pair of interlocking shields, arranged at 180 degrees to each other, so as to create a lozenge-shaped panel at the centre. Within this panel is a capital letter 'E', executed in Lombardic style. The upper parts of each shield's angled sides are decorated with a series of moulded segments, whereas the lower sides are plain. Three springs of foliage spring outwards on either side of the shields, extending from the two external angles at the centre. The underside of the weight is plain, but there are a number of indentations, most of which were probably caused by attempts made to extract the unsolidified weight from its mould. In addition to these marks, one of the shorter sides bears what appear to be three deliberate cut marks, with possible other such marks along the horizontal upper side of the weight.Length: 96.5mm; width: 53.9mm; thickness: 11.9mm; weight: 480.8g.No exact parallel could be found for this piece, although its form can be compared to a series of truncated-pyramidal weights illustrated by Biggs and Withers, one of which bears the design of a 'nine-men's-morris' board, a game popular in the Late Medieval period (Biggs and Withers 2000: 27 - 28). The decorative content of this weight also points towards a Late Medieval date, as does the use of Lombardic lettering, which was commonly employed on coins and seal matrices from the mid 14th century onwards. At 480.8g, this weight is slightly above the averdepois pound (454g). It may have fitted within one of the other weighing systems of the time or, alternatively, could have been designed to measure the weight of a specific material or product.
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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