woody50
Bronze Member
- Jun 21, 2007
- 1,879
- 203
- Detector(s) used
- XP Deus
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
I am sure that all of you have found small lead seals in your searches. They were used for almost everthing back then like cloth, bag, meat, etc., as a guarantee of quality. But few of you have found such a huge cloth seal as I found in Amsterdam. I would imagine its one of the largest, if not the largest every made.
One day I was searching in one of my favorite ground dump sites (those are sites where ground from construction sites is amassed until it can be tested for contaminants, in accord to the prevailing environmental regulations). Going from the top of a large 'mountain' of interesting earth, and trying to detect a little along the way while slipping down the steep side, I got a big signal.
Although I almost passed it by because I had already quite a few of those signals on the 'mountain', and they all turned out to be fairly large pieces of lead. But this one, although sounding a lot like the other signals, had a somewhat sweeter sound, although just like the others was not deep, it sounded like almost on the surface.
Standing on the side, with my shoes dug into the dirt, I got my shovel in a position to dig, when I saw a tiny bit of something poking through the sand and dirt. I just reached down and pulled it out and almost slipped all the rest of the way down the 'mountain'. As it was I knew what I had found and hurried down so that I could stand level and look at it. A great seal, monster it was. Wow, I though I would never find one that big... I have heard about them, but to own one! And this one was in PERFECT shape! Not a nick on it.
This one was used to indicate the highest quality of cloth that was produced at that time. Amsterdam was in it's century of greatness, it ruled the seas and thus the world, and the trade that went along with it.
Determination:
Amsterdam Lead Cloth Seal
Measurement 85mm (3.35 inch)
Mass 214g (6.9 oz -troy)
Obverse Weapon Amsterdam held by 2 lions
Dated 1607
Reverse A koggeship. The koggeships were built in the late Middle ages in The Netherlands. They were revolutionary ships, holding much more cargo than the proceeding ships. There were numerous of these ships built until around the end of the 16e century, when they were replaced by more modern ships with 2 or 3 masts.
Text : AMSTERDAMS GROOT
DVBBELT STAEL
The seal in your hand looks much better than this photo, here it looks kinda porous, but its not really.
One day I was searching in one of my favorite ground dump sites (those are sites where ground from construction sites is amassed until it can be tested for contaminants, in accord to the prevailing environmental regulations). Going from the top of a large 'mountain' of interesting earth, and trying to detect a little along the way while slipping down the steep side, I got a big signal.
Although I almost passed it by because I had already quite a few of those signals on the 'mountain', and they all turned out to be fairly large pieces of lead. But this one, although sounding a lot like the other signals, had a somewhat sweeter sound, although just like the others was not deep, it sounded like almost on the surface.
Standing on the side, with my shoes dug into the dirt, I got my shovel in a position to dig, when I saw a tiny bit of something poking through the sand and dirt. I just reached down and pulled it out and almost slipped all the rest of the way down the 'mountain'. As it was I knew what I had found and hurried down so that I could stand level and look at it. A great seal, monster it was. Wow, I though I would never find one that big... I have heard about them, but to own one! And this one was in PERFECT shape! Not a nick on it.
This one was used to indicate the highest quality of cloth that was produced at that time. Amsterdam was in it's century of greatness, it ruled the seas and thus the world, and the trade that went along with it.
Determination:
Amsterdam Lead Cloth Seal
Measurement 85mm (3.35 inch)
Mass 214g (6.9 oz -troy)
Obverse Weapon Amsterdam held by 2 lions
Dated 1607
Reverse A koggeship. The koggeships were built in the late Middle ages in The Netherlands. They were revolutionary ships, holding much more cargo than the proceeding ships. There were numerous of these ships built until around the end of the 16e century, when they were replaced by more modern ships with 2 or 3 masts.
Text : AMSTERDAMS GROOT
DVBBELT STAEL
The seal in your hand looks much better than this photo, here it looks kinda porous, but its not really.
Upvote
0
