Rights Holder: Suffolk County Council
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SEAL MATRIX
Unique ID: SF-C2C806
Object type certainty: Certain
Workflow
status: Published 
A copper alloy Medieval anonymous seal matrix. It is circular, 20.7mm in diameter, having six sides and terminating with a collared trefoil-headed loop. It measures 26.14mm in height and weighs 11.6g.
The face of the matrix shows an animal at the centre, hunched over with one arm bent up at the elbow and three tufts at the top of the head. It is probably a monkey or ape. The inscription is set between grooves, and following a five-pointed star, reads hAYL APE hAYL. Between the final L and the initial star is a linear arrow-shaped feature which runs into one point of the star.
In the inscription, each h is angular and lower-case so can easily be mistaken for a retrograde N, and the stems of the Ys are very short and merge with the inner border, so can easily be mistaken for Vs. Compare YORYM-872D82, SF851, and a seal from Durham (Harvey and McGuinness 1996, 115), which all have variants of this inscription.
Inscription:
* hAYL APE hAYL
Subsequent actions
Subsequent action after recording: Returned to finder
Chronology
Broad period: MEDIEVAL
Period from: MEDIEVAL
Period to: MEDIEVAL
Date from: Circa AD 1300
Date to: Circa AD 1400
Dimensions and weight
Quantity: 1
Length: 26.14 mm
Weight: 11.6 g
Diameter: 20.7 mm
Discovery dates
Date(s) of discovery: Sunday 1st November 2009
Personal details
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Materials and construction
Spatial metadata
Region: Eastern (European Region)County or Unitary authority: Suffolk (County)
District: Mid Suffolk (District)
To be known as: Akenham
Spatial coordinates
Grid reference source: From a paper map
Unmasked grid reference accurate to a 10 metre square.
References cited
No references cited so far.
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Timeline of associated dates
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