XIV: Seals by Simon, Oliver Cromwell’s Private Seal No. V, 1648-54, a uniface oval steel electrotype

XIV: Seals by Simon, Oliver Cromwell’s Private Seal No. V, 1648-54, a uniface oval steel electrotype copy, similar, 24 x 21mm, 6.63g (Henfrey p.182, and pl. vi, 6); Oliver Cromwell’s Official Signet for Military Passes, Commissions etc., 1650-8, a uniface steel electrotype copy, ornate arms surmounted by helmet and lion, no legend, 35mm, 14.65g (Henfrey p.184, and pl. vi, 9) [2]. Very fine £150-£200 --- Provenance: R.C. and O.M.W. Warner Collection; bt Baldwin 1968. For reasons unknown, Henfrey did not consider these to be by Simon. Simon’s main work was always the making of seals. These were steel or silver dies, known as matrices in seal terminology, with the obverse and reverse denominated as seal and counterseal. A special press for use would often accompany these matrices. The only impressions that were taken from the dies were those in wax or simply paper on documents, although proof squeezes in lead were possible. It should be recognised that a mechanical, large screw press, with its speed and pressure, was never used to ‘strike’, so it would seem that the only materials possible between the dies and the special manual press made for them were wax or paper, and perhaps soft lead. In the following group there is one probable original lead impression from the dies; the rest would appear to be metal casts made from wax impressions found on documents. For all practical purposes an original seal would be one in wax cut from, or still attached to, a document