Medieval bronze vesica seal matrix, c. 13th century AD. The design on the seal face depicts a shrine of The Nursing Madonna and Child with a cleric in an act of prayer at its base. The Madonna is stood facing left (right in the impression), cupping her bare breast and presenting it to the Christ child. She is hooded / veiled and is garbed in a tradition full length robe. The Christ child is in profile and is being held in the Madonna's left hand (right in the impression) and is looking into the face of the Madonna. The Madonna is standing and holding the Christ child beneath a gothic arch (or possibly a Rood Screen?), with two outer columns supporting a roof which is topped with carved decorations.The cleric is depicted facing left (right in the impression) with his head tilted upwards as if looking towards the shrine. His hands are probably closed in prayer. He is stood / kneeling (only his top half is shown) in a quatrefoil shaped arch or window. The inscription is *AVE MARIA GRATIA PLENA DOMINVS TECVM (Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you). At the top of the reverse is a pierced lug for suspension. 38mm, 12.8g.Found in LIncolnshire and recorded with the Portable Antiquities Scheme: LIN-25BEA2 https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/996589
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Iron age decorated bronze mount fragment. The mount was originally circular with four projecting lobes forming a propeller-like shape. The front face has extensive well-executed curvelinear decoration infilled with punched basket weave and a circular recess, probably for enamel (now missing), on each lobe. Circa 100 BC - 100 AD. 71mm x 41mm, 17.68g.
Medieval Love Seal matrix. A bronze chessman type seal matrix with hexagonal-sectioned handle surmounted by a pierced trefoil terminal. The circular seal face is engraved with a design of two standing figures with a branch between and the legend +LOVE ME AND I YE. Circa 14th century. Cf. PAS: CAM-83011F & IOW-CFE1A5. 24mm, 8.1g. Found in Lincolnshire and recorded with the PAS: LIN-25B6DE https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/996587
Medieval bronze chessman type seal matrix with a tapering hexagonal-sectioned handle surmounted by a pierced trefoil. The circular seal face has an engraved device of a walking bird and the inscription *IE SVI NVL EA the legend possibly being a derivation of other similar matrices that read, for example, 'Je su nul tel' ('there is none like me'). 14th century. 24mm x 19mm, 8.6g.
Celtic enamelled harness mount. A late Iron Age bronze 'Eared' mount from a horse harness. The front face of the mount has champleve enamel decoration, the main elements of which are two opposed crescents of red enamel. Each crescent contains a la tene style scrolling foliate motif with terminals in the form of petals and three roundels inlaid with blue glass. There are four further areas of red enamel and two perforations of identical shape. The enamel inlay is complimented by finely engraved curvelinear decoration. On the reverse are a pair of rectangular loops for attachment to the straps. This style of decoration is seen on two other examples from South-East England, from London and from Kent. CF. British Museum object number 1856,0701.998 https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/H_1856-0701-998 The overall form of the mount resembles a facing animal mask, hidden zoomorphic and anthropomorphic elements are often incorporated into late Iron Age art. Condition: glossy patina on the front face with almost all the enamel intact. Some nibbling to the edges around the periphery otherwise vey fine condition. Circa mid 1st century BC - mid 1st century AD. 83mm x 64mm, 60.2g.References: Jope, E M, Early Celtic Art in the British Isles: plate 297 a-e; Megaw, R & V, Celtic Art: Plate I.
Large collection of commemorative Crowns, £5 & £2 coins with other British pre decimal coinswith a large amount of penny’s from Victoria to 1967, includes 6 x 1986 £2 coins, 5 x 1989 £2 coins, 2 x 1990, 1997, 2001 £5 coins, one bronze roman coin of Constantine, with other coins. In three blue coin index boxes & bags.
The Ryedale Ritual Bronzes. A unique assemblage of Roman ritual artefacts from Yorkshire.In May 2020, approximately 20 miles north of York, the Roman city of Eboracum, two friends Mark Didlick and James Spark unearthed an amazing assemblage of Roman bronze-work. Consisting of a large bust, a horse and rider figurine, a zoomorphic knife handle and a pendulum, this assemblage almost certainly represents a set of ritual equipment, buried as one deposit in the closing decades of the second century AD either at, or very close to, a rural temple or shrine site.BustThe 130mm high bronze bust, with its flamboyant hair and curly, forked beard appears to represent Marcus Aurelius. Emperor AD 161-180, philosopher and author, his reign followed those of Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian and his adoptive father, Antoninus Pius. He earned his place in Roman hearts as the last of the ‘Five Good Emperors’ whose consecutive rules oversaw a period of relative peace and prosperity in Rome. The bust is hollow, cast using the lost wax method and very finely modelled. Although the portrait is somewhat stylised, with large almond-shaped eyes, close similarities can be seen with some other depictions of the Emperor, notably the bronze equestrian statue of Aurelius in the Piazza del Campidoglio, Rome, and the full-length figure in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen. The back of the head has a hinged plate which opens like a trap door to reveal the interior, possibly designed as such to allow the placement of a flaming lamp inside to bring life to the eyes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equestrian_Statue_of_Marcus_Aureliushttps://www.worldhistory.org/image/2406/marcus-aurelius-statue-ny-carlsberg-glyptotek/A similar head was found at Brackley, Northamptonshire in the 1970’s and now features on the homepage of the Portable Antiquities Scheme website. The head is hollow-cast and has cobalt blue glass inlaid into the eyes. The PAS record BERK-E24C84 states: ‘The small number of heads or busts cast in bronze and found in Britain share characteristics such as slanting eyes and the textured patterning of the hair identifies them as the products of a provincial Romano-British workshop. The Brackley head can be dated to the mid-late second century AD by its resemblance to images of Antonine emperors, especially Marcus Aurelius. It may perhaps be inappropriate to suggest that the head from Brackley represents the local rendering of an imperial portrait, but a profile image on a coin portrait of Marcus Aurelius might have been its inspirations.’ https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/252426Around 20 bronze heads/busts are known from Roman Britain, depicting various gods and emperors and they are thought to be mounts from the tops of sceptres. These sceptres would have been carried by priests and used for divination and the performance of rituals.Mars statuette.A cast bronze figurine of a rider on horseback, probably representing the God Mars. The horse and rider are well modelled, the horse harness with attached phalerae and reins clearly visible, though the latter are broken. Mars, wearing a helmet, short-sleeved tunic and pleated skirt, belted at the waist, sits astride the horse with his right arm raised to hold a spear. The left arm is held in front, bent at the elbow and the simple form of the forearm indicates it would have been held behind a shield, hidden from view. No traces of a shield were found in the hoard and it is possible that this was made from organic material. The horse has its right foreleg raised and the other legs have small pegs on the base of the hooves, indicating that the figurine would have been fixed into a plinth. It is often the case with votive deposits that figurines are interred without their bases or sometimes a pedestal is included with no accompanying figurine. 86.8mm high. 222g.Knife handle. A solid bronze knife handle in the form of a horse protome (the foreparts of a horse). The horse is well modelled with its front legs outstretched and head forward, as though leaping. PAS suggest that ‘The presence of the horse protome... might also be explained through its secondary use as a substitute votive for animal sacrifice.’ The symbolism may not end there, this may have been a knife using in rituals of animal sacrifice or divination through the examination of animal entrails.Pendulum/plumb bob. A large bronze conical plumb bob or pendulum measuring 72mm long, 40mm diameter and weighing 282g. The top is decorated with concentric circles and at the centre is a mushroom-shaped projection, which is pierced both vertically and horizontally for attachment to a line. Such items were an important tool for surveyors and architects and it has been suggested that this could be a votive offering relating to a new building project or the surveying of the landscape, More likely, however, is that the pendulum was used for the purposes of divination and predicting the future.The find was taken to York museum where it was recorded with the Portable Antiquities Scheme, reference number: YORYM-870B0E. Under current legislation this find did not fulfil the criteria to qualify as ‘Treasure’ so the hoard was returned to the finders. https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/1013510Other examples of similar ritual deposits from Roman Britain include.The Felmingham Hall Hoard: This hoard from Norfolk was discovered in 1844 and consisted of a large ceramic cauldron containing 19 bronze items. The contents included a sceptre heads depicting Jupiter and Minerva along with other figures of gods and animals, along with a ritual rattle used for divination purpose. This hoard has been interpreted as a symbolic ‘end of life’ votive deposit possibly signifying the closure of the shrine to which they belonged. A coin of Valerian inside the cauldron dates the hoard to the mid third century AD.https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/H_1925-0610-1Willingham Fen Hoard: At Willingham Fen in 1857, another hoard of priestly regalia was found. This included horse and rider figurines, five broken sceptres, including handles and terminals, and a large bronze sceptre head depicting the emperor Antoninus Pius. These items were contained within a wooden box. It was suggested that the head of Antoninus was crafted after the Emperor was deified, justifying his presence atop a sceptre in a position usually reserved for the gods. https://www.jstor.org/stable/297703?seq=1The Ryedale bronzes offer a tantalising insight into the religious practices of Roman Britain in the 2nd century. The items themselves were obviously held in high esteem and from other examples of ritual hoards we can see that such deposits were not infrequent occurrences. We can theorise that these objects were the property of one priest, his tools of communication with the Gods, and were no longer needed in the mortal realm once the priest passed on. In his book Meditations Marcus Aurelius wrote ‘What we do now echoes in eternity.’ Famously paraphrased by General Maximus in the opening scenes of Gladiator, this still holds true today as the events around a rural shrine in Ryedale echo forward into the 21st century.(Text reproduced with from The Searcher magazine June 2021 issue pp.20-23).For further information see Esposito (2019) Performing the Sacra: Priestly Roles and Their Organisation in Roman Britain.
Medieval Bronze Sword Pommel. Circa 15th - 16th century AD. Size: 45.57 x 26.73 x 21.68 mm. A heavy cast bronze pommel, octagonal in form and decorated on each face with an outlined panel. The base is flat with two semicircular grooves, one each side of the centre point where the tang would have been secured. The sides tapper up to the point where the handle would have been secured. Around the top is a double banded collar. A very unusual type that could date slightly earlier but no references have been sourced to confirm this. A metal detector find from Essex.
Roman Bronze Rider Statuette. Circa, 1st - 3rd century AD. Copper-alloy, 153mm x 42mm across the shoulders, 490g. An exquisite piece of ancient art of the finest quality. The figurine is modelled in the form of a youthful Faun? wearing a lion skin, tied on the left shoulder with the paws resting on his upper arm and shoulder. The skin falls in folds down his back with the lion's head covering the left side of his rear. Posed in a riding position with his head turned away looking slightly upwards. The right arm is bent back with a clinched fist and the left stretched out as if to be steadying himself. This position suggests he would have certainly been astride an animal, possibly a dolphin as Eros?. This youthful male could be an image of a young Hercules. From an old English collection and originally found in Norfolk. Ex. Norfolk collection.
Richard III Heraldic Pendant. Circa, 15th century AD. Copper-alloy, 4.96g. 26.99 mm. A quality silver plated bronze horse harness pendant in the form of a quatrefoil. The face of the pendant is detailed with a boar's head on a pelleted field with a crescent above and below, a sun. The boar’s head was the badge of the Plantagenet kings and featured on the coinage of Edward V and Richard III along with other devices such as crescent and sun. An identical pendant was sold in 2014 which was reportedly found near Bosworth field.
Roman tutulus brooch with pin. A bronze tutulus disc brooch having a raised conical centre within a circular channel and eight small peripheral lugs. The conical centre is surmounted by a sphere-on-disc moulding. On the reverse, the pin and catchplate are complete and intact. 2nd century AD, cf. Hattatt 1431. 31mm diameter, 8.71g.
Toy Cannon. Circa 18th century. Copper-alloy, 22.04g. 69.72 mm. A cast bronze toy cannon modelled to the same form as the guns used on war ships during this period. These toy guns were primed with powder and fired by children as way of amusement. Ref: Forsyth & Egan, Toys, Trifles & Trinkets. p.82. fig. 1.5.
Toy Cannon. Circa 18th century. Copper-alloy, 15.56g. 60.77 mm. A cast bronze toy cannon modelled to the same form as the guns used on war ships during this period. These toy guns were primed with powder and fired by children as way of amusement. Ref: Forsyth & Egan, Toys, Trifles & Trinkets. p.82. fig. 1.5.
Bronze Age Socketed Axe. Circa, 1000-800 BC. Bronze, 150g. 102.75 mm. A stunning example of a looped and socketed axe head that dates to the end of the Bronze Age and possibly crosses over in to the early Iron Age. The axe is of perfect form and decorated on both sides with moulded elements. Each has a raised line that extends from below the collar to approximately two thirds of the length and terminates in a large pellet. Complete and undamaged. Ref: for similar example see: PAS: DOR-8496B6.
Roman hare belt fitting. A bronze belt fitting in the form of a hare with a swivelling ring suspended from the centre. The body of the hare is decorated with orange champleve enamel and there is a circular perforation at the centre through which a bronze split pin passes. The folded end of the split pin projects outwards from the hare's body and from it hangs a circular suspension ring which is decorated with a circumferential wavy line between two collars. On the reverse are two T-shaped lugs for attachment to a belt, one is damaged. A rare form of belt mount, see PAS: NMS-F70707 for a comparable mount in the form of a boar. 2nd century AD. 30mm, 8.3g.
Roman chatelaine brooch. A bronze chatelaine plate brooch, apsidal in plan, with an umbo at the centre and three projecting circular lugs around the curved top edge. The largest, at the centre, contains a quatrefoil surrounded by yellow and blue champleve enamel. The two smaller lugs, one on either side, each have a circular recess for yellow enamel. The face of the brooch and the umbo are decorated with radiating sub-triangular petals of yellow enamel. The bottom edge has a horizontal panel of petals and a pierced lug at either corner for the suspension of toilet articles. On the reverse, the pin and catchplate are intact. 2nd century AD, cf Hattatt 603. 40mm x 39mm, 12.8g.
Roman bronze body parts. Two cast bronze arms and one leg. The leg is from a figurine of Mercury and is wearing a winged sandal. The arms are from different figurines. Artefacts such as figurines were often purposefully broken and deposited as votive offering to the Gods. 1st - 4th century AD. 38mm, 18.9g.
Classical style bronze figure of a Lar with related paperwork from the British Museum. Lars were household Gods that adorned a shrine known as a Lararium in a Roman home. Said to have been found in a stream near the Roman road known as Barton Street, near Grimsby. Uncertain date. Please see the images of the paperwork for further details. 88mm, 81.1g.
Roman erotic scene bronze knife handle. The PAS interprets the scene on a very similar knife handle (HAMP-4D3135) as 'a standing male figure engaged in sexual intercourse with a woman seated on the bent shoulders of a third person, who is kneeling on one knee. This latter is smaller, appears to wear a hat and has clasped hands. The group is set on a largely plain square pedestal. The women and the kneeling figure are naked, while the man wears boots and possibly a tunic; his hands support the woman's legs around his waist. The modelling is reasonably crude and the details of the figures are poorly indicated. That said, moulding extends to eye sockets, oval eyes and noses on all three figures. The hairstyles on both main figures are incised, with the female sporting a distinctively elongated hairstyle. There is a deep transverse incision below the feet of the main figures. On one large face of the pedestal there is a second incision below; this is absent on the other face on which the kneeling figure's foot goes below the line of the top of the pedestal. The slot for the knife blade runs up the back of the standing male figure. The knife is virtually identical to an example found at Verulamium in a 4th-century context (Frere 1984, 56-59; ref. 217, Plate III).' 1st - 4th century AD. 78mm, 25.5g. https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/224139
Roman circular bronze seal box containing a small silver penannular ring. The seal box is circular with a hinged lid that is decorated with moulded concentric circles and is silvered. The hinge functions but the axis bar is missing. When opened, a small silver penannular ring was found inside. 24mm, 4.7g. Ring: 11mm, 0.7g. Private collection, acquired UK collectors market 1991.
Roman bronze brooch. A large silvered bronze bow brooch of unusual form. The head is flat with integral chain loop and meets a large circular recess on the bow, which probably held a roundel of glass or bone. The foot and catchplate are in the manner of a P-shaped and crossbow brooches of the 2nd - 3rd centuries. 85mm, 30.0g.
Roman bronze military buckle plate with millefiori glass inlay. A rectangular buckle plate which has a central rectangular aperture surrounded by a border of black and yellow millefiori glass inlay. Hinged at one end for attachment to a buckle.76mm, 20.1g. 1st - 2nd century AD, cf, Benets R12-0403.
Roman bronze P-shaped brooch with iron pin. A very nice example of a 2nd - 3rd century P-shaped brooch having a returned foot and punched and incised decoration on the upper surface of the bow. The bilateral iron pin with internal chord survives intact and is still mobile. 62mm, 21.6g Cf. Hattatt 488.
Iron Age Cosmetic Set.Circa 1st century AD. Copper-alloy, 91mm, 54.2g (mortar) 64mm, 14.9g (pestle). A high quality and finely-modelled bronze cosmetic-grinder set consisting of a mortar and pestle. A centre-looped mortar that is exquisite, finely-modelled with a bull's head at one end and a curled tail at the other. The bull's head has a very natural life-like appearance that displays finer details than most seen on such artefacts of this period. Modelled with horns curved up and inwards just above the ears, the eyes with prominent sockets are set with dark blue stones and the mouth is open as if it where letting out a call (moo). The crescent shaped body is detailed with a crescent panel outlined with a raised border, this bridges the space between the head and curled tail terminal that sits between two large round projections. The second part of this fascinating set is the pestle, although undecorated it is finely made and fits perfectly in the groove that runs through the body of the mortar. Ref: R. Jackson. Britannia 1985, Cosmetic sets from Late Iron Age and Roman Britain. fig. 6. Type A.
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