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BADGE
Unique ID: NLM-28F731
Object type certainty: Certain
Workflow
status: Published 
Lead alloy badge. Cast flat badge in the form of a heart whose surface forms a finely diagonal cross-hatched field with a narrow bar across it rising from left to right; there are eight pellets along the bar, more crowded towards the left hand side. A tiny hole of diameter c.1mm in the cleft may be for stitched attachment. Alternatively, it may have received a thin separate pin of more robust material whose point may have been secured by the flap of metal projecting fron the back serving as a catch plate.
The badge is probably a romantic keepsake, and the pellets might represent the letters of an inscription for an illiterate: Mitchiner (1986, 126 nos 318-319) notes MYN FORM as a seven-character inscription on two examples. About 50 pewter heart-shaped badges have been found in London, most on the Thames foreshore, where they are deemed keepsakes rather than pilgrim souvenirs (Spencer 1998, 321-3). Suggested date: Late Medieval, 1350-1500.
Height: 17.1mm, Width: 16.2mm, Thickness: 1.2mm, Weight: 1.77gms
Subsequent actions
Subsequent action after recording: Returned to finder
Chronology
Broad period: MEDIEVAL
Subperiod from: Late
Period from: MEDIEVAL
Subperiod to: Late
Period to: MEDIEVAL
Date from: Circa AD 1350
Date to: Circa AD 1500
Dimensions and weight
Quantity: 1
Height: 17.1 mm
Width: 16.2 mm
Thickness: 1.2 mm
Weight: 1.77 g
Discovery dates
Date(s) of discovery: Tuesday 30th August 2016
Personal details
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Other reference numbers
Other reference: NLM33563
Materials and construction
Primary material: Lead Alloy
Decoration style: Figurative
Completeness: Complete
Spatial metadata
Region: East Midlands (European Region)County or Unitary authority: Lincolnshire (County)
District: West Lindsey (District)
To be known as: near Gainsborough
Spatial coordinates
Grid reference source: Generated from computer mapping software
Unmasked grid reference accurate to a 1 metre square.
References cited
No references cited so far.
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Timeline of associated dates
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