My first lead seal

[Nerosmyfavorite68]

I was a bit intrigued by this inexpensive seal and plopped it into my order.  It was sold as Byzantine, but it doesn't look very byzantine to me. It's very thick, more like a Hershey's kiss.  Anyone have any theories?

Title: Byzantine Empire Lead Seal
Date: 7th-10th century AD
Obverse: Draped bust right
Size: 18.13 mm
Weight: 10.17 grams

[justus]

Definitely not a Byzantine lead seal, but an Imperial Roman approx. 3rd/4th Century.
There are several dozen of these small seals in my collection, all from finds in Trier.
Numerous seals have been found in Trier on the Moselle river on the banks where goods were unloaded from ships in Roman times.
They were used to seal trade goods and were thrown away after use.

The Trierer Münzfreunde e. V. Have published some essays on this:

Knickrehm, W.: Römische Plomben aus Trier von Marc Aurel bis Constantin

Leukel, H.-J.: Römische Fundplomben aus Trier 2002-2015

Leukel, H.-J.: Römische Bleiplomben aus Trierer Funden (Teil 1)

Leukel, H.-J.: Römische Bleiplomben aus Trierer Funden (Teil 3)

Leukel, H.-J.: Römische Bleiplomben aus Trierer Funden (Nachtrag)

Leukel, H.-J.: Römische Plomben aus Trierer Funden 1995-2001

http://www.muenzfreunde-trier.de – Petermännchen-Verlag - Trierer Petermännchen

Edited August 23, 2022 by justus

[Nerosmyfavorite68]

Thank you.  My spidey sense turned out to be correct.  I thought it was Roman.  The weird shape would make sense for sealing goods. It looks almost like a juvenile bust.