Articles
* Very nice seal or stamp in silver chiselled foliage decoration, decorated with double coat of arms with two coats of arms surrounded by two lions and surmounted by a crown, punched boar's head, neck carnelian, XIXth century.
This seal is in good condition.
A note: slight wear and micro-scratches time, see pictures.
Collectible whose oldest examples date back four millennia BCE. The stamp was first used to affix the mark of a personal character to ensure the contents of a box or envelope, the authenticity of a document. It also also used the term seal. The little personal touch is indeed used in Europe since the Middle Ages. It may be a ring mounted with an intaglio of hard stone, or a gold bezel engraved hollow (the signet rings are something else!). But there are many-fitted seals, made of a hard stone engraved intaglio: carnelian, garnet, sapphire, rock crystal, agate; some are even antique intaglios. These little pills are sometimes jewelery that is dangling from a chain or the lady; such as boxes, it is often a gift item. These fees vary in size: it is in tiny embedded in pretty frames of chased gold, other 1.5 to 2cm in diameter mounted on a handful of gold, of primping, chased silver, pearl, hard stone, wood ...
In terms of the coat of arms and collection rather we say "weapons". For an object being emblazoned is a quality that may sousrce a slight gain. A coat of arms, surmounted by a crown of count or marquis, always flatters the vanity of its owner. The presence of weapons is often a sign of quality and allows for the provenance of an object, but only if we engage in a heraldic research. (See Larousse antiques and flea market).
