MEDAL

A post medieval silver medal dating to the period c.AD 1640-1675. The medal is oval in plan with a rounded knop situated at 3 o' clock, 6 o' clock and 9 o' clock, and a suspension loop at 12 o clock. On both faces, a small lozenge is present within each of these knops and immediately below the suspension loop. On one side, an oval border of two moulded lines circumnavigates the perimeter, within which is a portrait of Charles I, facing left. The reverse depicts a crowned Royal Stuart coat of arms surrounded by the garter (inscribed with the motto, difficult to read, HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE), all within the same two-line border.

The medal measures 26.1mm in length, 20.05mm in width, 1.5mm in thickness and weighs 2.82g.

Discussion:
This pendant is from a series of well-known badges recorded in the Medallic Illustrations of the History of Great Britain and Ireland, Volume I, pp. 360-364. A close comparison is found in the collection of the British Museum (M.7280), and a gold version is registered as M.7283. The record for M.7283 says 'This medal was a badge evidently intended to be worn about the person of friends or partisans of the monarch. They are of various sizes and workmanship, and were executed at various times; some evidently worn as ornamental or honourable decorations conferred for services performed, others to be concealed as tacit memorials of the royal person or cause, where an open avowal of such attachment would have been troublesome or dangerous to the wearer.'

A very similar, though damaged, example reported as Treasure and recorded with the Portable Antiquities Scheme is 2008 T401 (DENO-F13D23). Other pendants of this type feature the bust of Charles on one side and different reverses, and a number of these have also been reported under the Treasure Act. These include examples where the reverse is a bust of the queen consort, Henrietta Maria, 2007 T324 (WMID-338537) and 2016 T53 (LIN-CF843A), where the reverse is three crowns 2016 T740 (SWYOR-26CC97), and where the reverse features a monogram 'CR', 2007 T15 (ESS-6ECE34). These have all been dated to the 17th century and have been declared Treasure.