Small shield

[steve_rowlands]

Found this today, not sure what to make of it. Maybe some sort of mount? Any guesses or info welcome.
Found in Hertfordshire England.

Steve

 

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[Digger RJ]

Nice!!! Congrats!!!

 

[Westfront]

Heraldic horse pendant. A very nice one! Lions and cross is something special. Cru will chime in soon!

 

[steve_rowlands]

Heraldic horse pendant. A very nice one! Lions and cross is something special. Cru will chime in soon! [emoji106]

Wow, what period is it from?

 

[Westfront]

Wow, what period is it from?

Medieval in general. I'd date it 12thC. but not sure about differences between UK and continental europe. Looks high status to me with the lions.

 

[A2coins]

Holy moly you have some seriously cool finds in England I need to move are there any Castles for rent over there. Great find that is freakin cool Well done Tommy

 

[GoldieLocks]

Holy moly you have some seriously cool finds in England I need to move are there any Castles for rent over there. Great find that is freakin cool Well done Tommy

I am also very impressed by the overseas finds. I took Art History and love this sort of thing.

 

[1637]

thats cool
brad

 

[powrsurg]

Lions usually mean royalty. Cant wait to see how this turns out.

 

[JeffInMass]

Very cool find- Congrats!

 

[CRUSADER]

I have to disagree on the Horse Pendant theory. It looks like some kind of cheap metal cast, not the type of metal used in the Medieval.

What does the reverse look like?

 

[steve_rowlands]

Like this

 

[CRUSADER]

Like this View attachment 1804357

As I thought with this kind of pot metal/pewter it's 18th C at best. Looks like the only attachment broke off the top, so it is pendant like in nature, just not sure what it swung from?

 

[steve_rowlands]

As I thought with this kind of pot metal/pewter it's 18th C at best. Looks like the only attachment broke off the top, so it is pendant like in nature, just not sure what it swung from?

Awesome, I'd rather know ...no matter how disappointing the verdict.
Thanks again for taking the time to reply [emoji106]

 

[Tuberale]

Cool. Either one.

 

[Westfront]

As I thought with this kind of pot metal/pewter it's 18th C at best. Looks like the only attachment broke off the top, so it is pendant like in nature, just not sure what it swung from?

At least it's made like a horse harness pendant.

 

[MetalArchSC]

That’s cool!

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Cool find!

 

[Red-Coat]

Whatever it is, it's likely a family or provincial coat of arms and you may be able to track it down.

The four lions passant (one in each quarter of a shield) are sometimes used an indication of royal patronage, as on Cambridge University's coat of arms. They also have long-standing use as the badge of Wales (and the Prince of Wales), although not with a cross separating the quarters.

You'll need to research specific combinations of heraldic devices and colours though rather than just look for 'similarities'. Cambridge University's coat of arms for example has the lions on a red field, the cross is 'ermined' (has small representations of the stoat's tail dotted across it) and has a bible at the centre.

Yours has something dotted across the lateral arms of the cross, but it's not ermined (those are 'lozenges' perhaps, but aren't very clear from the picture) and something at the centre which may be a saltire (an 'X' shaped cross) with something at its centre. These shields were often enamelled, so have a really good look with a loupe for even the tiniest traces of colouration remaining from enamelling that has since corroded away.

In the absence of any colour indications, you can probably assume that the lions were gold/yellow ('or') or, less likely, silver ('argent'). Heraldic convention is also that red ('gules') is represented by parallel vertical lines, so the field that they're on is/was probably that colour. A plain surface (apart from patterning with ermine spots and such) is the usual convention for silver/white, so the cross may have been that colour.

Good luck.

 

[CRUSADER]

Whatever it is, it's likely a family or provincial coat of arms and you may be able to track it down.

The four lions passant (one in each quarter of a shield) are sometimes used an indication of royal patronage, as on Cambridge University's coat of arms. They also have long-standing use as the badge of Wales (and the Prince of Wales), although not with a cross separating the quarters.

You'll need to research specific combinations of heraldic devices and colours though rather than just look for 'similarities'. Cambridge University's coat of arms for example has the lions on a red field, the cross is 'ermined' (has small representations of the stoat's tail dotted across it) and has a bible at the centre.

Yours has something dotted across the lateral arms of the cross, but it's not ermined (those are 'lozenges' perhaps, but aren't very clear from the picture) and something at the centre which may be a saltire (an 'X' shaped cross) with something at its centre. These shields were often enamelled, so have a really good look with a loupe for even the tiniest traces of colouration remaining from enamelling that has since corroded away.

In the absence of any colour indications, you can probably assume that the lions were gold/yellow ('or') or, less likely, silver ('argent'). Heraldic convention is also that red ('gules') is represented by parallel vertical lines, so the field that they're on is/was probably that colour. A plain surface (apart from patterning with ermine spots and such) is the usual convention for silver/white, so the cross may have been that colour.

Good luck.

Cru'dad thought it reminded him of a University or School badge (& mentioned to me the Cambridge similarities), like what the prefect would wear although they tended to have the word prefect.
You stated that the Lions are 'Passant', maybe by mistake as the Lions on the Cambridge Uni are ''passant guardant''.
As the casting is so poor it's hard to tell which it is, but they do look Passant to me & that would indicate a French Royal connection, not English.
Like you state, without the colour combinations it will be a tough search.