Wire seal

A single disc with a small loop at the top (now missing). Both faces have stamped or cast decoration and a double pelleted border. Side one, has a crowned heart flanked by ? tulips. The heart has a line of pellets down the centre. Side two, is marked with the letters ‘CPDR’ and the number ‘5’ with foliate sprigs. The seal is difficult to date precisely but examples of similar size and shape have been recovered from excavations on the Continent with Germanic place names and legends which suggest that they were used for wire or thread. A number were recovered from the site of a wire-drawing mill in Amsterdam with a piece of wire through the loop, either for attachment or a surviving piece of the commodity itself (Amsterdam Archeologische Dienst acc. no. MH2 13-11-1975).