Beautiful Seal Matrix - Find of a Lifetime!

Tinman

Jr. Member
Jul 5, 2007
57
186
South Carolina
Detector(s) used
XP Deus 2, 9" Coil
Primary Interest:
Relic Hunting

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Upvote 72
Another surprise and something Iā€™ve always wanted to find. Now the question isā€¦.should I try it with modern sealing wax? Most of the early settlers on this piece of ground arrived from Barbados after that island was overrun.
Is there any way to trace these or date them?
That is an amazing find. Well done!
 

I canā€˜t find a exact parallel for shape unfortunately but given the design, lack of legend and shape Iā€™d expect this to be 16th/17th century,
I've been struggling to date this one as well.
Most of the 17th C examples are fairly easy to date, so I'm going with 16th C.
 

Thank you for checkingā€¦ Iā€™m a little out of my depth on this one
I think it worthy of a specialist collectors view. Seals are highly collected & someone or a Seal Club/Forum may help narrow it down. It looks Bronze in the picture which points towards an older date, but doesn't quite fit the Medieval types. Tudor period with that type of galley/ship makes the most sense to me.
 

I think it worthy of a specialist collectors view. Seals are highly collected & someone or a Seal Club/Forum may help narrow it down. It looks Bronze in the picture which points towards an older date, but doesn't quite fit the Medieval types. Tudor period with that type of galley/ship makes the most sense to me.
Here is my first try with the wax!
 

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Another surprise and something Iā€™ve always wanted to find. Now the question isā€¦.should I try it with modern sealing wax? Most of the early settlers on this piece of ground arrived from Barbados after that island was overrun.
Is there any way to trace these or date them?
Really awesome find. Huge congrats! I hope you can learn more about its history, seems significant. Did you find this on Kiawah? Definitely some very old maritime history along that part of the coast. I usually just find a handful of change and pull tabs on the beaches there.
 

Another surprise and something Iā€™ve always wanted to find. Now the question isā€¦.should I try it with modern sealing wax? Most of the early settlers on this piece of ground arrived from Barbados after that island was overrun.
Is there any way to trace these or date them?
That is amazing.
 

I think it worthy of a specialist collectors view. Seals are highly collected & someone or a Seal Club/Forum may help narrow it down. It looks Bronze in the picture which points towards an older date, but doesn't quite fit the Medieval types. Tudor period with that type of galley/ship makes the most sense to me.
Contacting a seal club is a great idea.

Additionally it might also be worth trying to find someone with knowledge of historical sailing ships to try to date the style of ship. The ship is likely to be contemporary with the seal and might be dateable to a specific period.

I believe three masted ships were only in use in the west from the 15th century onward so that is very likely be the earliest your seal could be. Someone who knows ships better should be able to narrow that down further though.

Jamie
 

Well then... upon return to this...
i see some have commented on what i also feel is a late 1600's to early 1700's KILLER wax seal... hence the immediate call to banner.
Again... well done and i would hunt that area like a rabid animal... only slower :P
 

Well then... upon return to this...
i see some have commented on what i also feel is a late 1600's to early 1700's KILLER wax seal... hence the immediate call to banner.
Again... well done and i would hunt that area like a rabid animal... only slower :P
Iā€™m pounding the site and itā€™s yielding some pretty amazing finds from several historical periods. The area is strewn with green & blue feather shreds and quite a bit of salt glaze bellarmine/bartman jug pieces. There are clay pipe pieces everywhere. Iā€™ve found About 6 colonial coppers, 2 half reales and a boat load of dandy / flat buttons. The seal is just the most unique find.
 

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