Medieval Purse Bar with 'Praise be to God, peace to the living and rest to the dead' and Fragment Group

14TH-15TH CENTURY A.D.

2 3/8 - 3 7/8 in. (63 grams total, 62-98 mm).

One complete purse bar with linear ornament and swivel hoop; one purse bar arm with attachment lugs and inscription to both faces, part of: 'DEFVNTIS' '[LAVS DEO]'; possibly a version of 'Laus deo pax vivis requies defunctis', or 'Praise be to God, peace to the living and rest to the dead'; a carinated fragment inscribed 'ONOR' (the N retrograde), amidst flowering tendrils, part of the common inscription 'SOLI DEO HONOR ET GLORIA' [Honour and glory be to God only], from 1 Timothy, v.17. [3, No Reserve]

Provenance

Acquired on the UK market, 1990s.
Property of a retired academic.

Literature

See Williams, D., Finds Research Group, Datasheet 50, Copper-Alloy Purse Components, 2018; Portable Antiquities Scheme nos. BH-C238C7 and NMS-8281F5, for two fragments bearing 'DEFVNTIS' '[LAVS DEO]' inscription.

CONDITION

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LOT 1722