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SEAL MATRIX
Unique ID: WILT-B5DF0B
Object type certainty: Certain
Workflow
status: Awaiting validation 
A Medieval copper alloy seal matrix dating to AD 1200-1400. The matrix is pedastal shaped, with a sub-circular base tapering into a faceted, hexagonal handle with an incomplete suspension loop at its apex. The base of the matrix is engraved with a squirrel facing right, with an illegible inscription engraved in retrograde around the exterior edge, the edges being highly abraded. It potentially reads: [I CRAKE] (NO)[TIS].
The seal weighs 5.12g and measures 15.87mm in length and the face measures 15.55mm by 13.66mm.
Cf YORYM-ACEBA5 and SUR-AB409D.
Wildlife, particularly squirrels, hares and rabbits appear frequently on matrices of this type. Seal matrices of this type bearing imaginative legends in French or English and with decorative rather than heraldic central elements are typical of the 14th century AD. Harvey and McGuinness, (1996: pp. 88-89, 116). According to Harvey and McGuiness (1996, page 89) the squirrel eating a nut with the legend 'I crake notis' symbolises "sexual conquest". Red squirrels were sometimes seen in medieval art as women's familiars, and their association may well have a more sexual meaning.
Class:
anonymous
Inscription:
[I CRAKE] (NO)[TIS]
Subsequent actions
Subsequent action after recording: Returned to finder
Chronology
Broad period: MEDIEVAL
Period from: MEDIEVAL
Period to: MEDIEVAL
Date from: Circa AD 1200
Date to: Circa AD 1400
Dimensions and weight
Quantity: 1
Length: 15.87 mm
Width: 15.55 mm
Weight: 5.12 g
Personal details
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Other reference numbers
Other reference: SSWM 5498
Materials and construction
Spatial metadata
Region: South West (European Region)County or Unitary authority: Wiltshire (Unitary Authority)
District: Wiltshire (Unitary Authority)
Parish or ward: Winterbourne Stoke (Civil Parish)
Spatial coordinates
4 Figure: SU0943
Four figure Latitude: 51.18615824
Four figure longitude: -1.87260785
1:25K map: SU0943
1:10K map: SU04SE
Unmasked grid reference accurate to a 100 metre square.
References cited
No references cited so far.
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Timeline of associated dates
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