Roman Style Silver Bull Statuette

In a glazed wooden case with various artefacts including musket balls, ceramic fragments, and three complete clay pipes by Robert Younge of Soutwell, Nottingham; at the bottom a raised plaque inscribed: 'CIVIL WAR RELICS / from the siege of NEWARK / 1645 - 1646 / found at the site of the camp / of troops of the Earl of Lincoln / nr. Clay Lane Newark'. 5.7 kg, 60 cm



From a 19th century collection based on the inscribed plaque and frame. From an old collection of antiquities collected by the Gilstrap family, wine merchants in Newark, Nottinghamshire, UK.

The Third Siege of Newark was the longest and lasted 26th November 1645 - 8th May 1646. King Charles I's army had been destroyed at the Battle of Naseby and many of his important cities and fortresses had been lost. Newark was one of the last Royalist towns capable of resisting a Roundhead army. Newark was besieged by 17,000 soldiers made up of Roundheads from the surrounding East Midlands and London, plus the Scottish Presbyterians called Covenanters. The siege lasted six months and the people of Newark suffered hunger, an extremely cold winter and and outbreaks of disease. On the 6th May 1646, King Charles I surrendered to the Scots in the nearby town of Southwell. Two days later Newark surrendered.

Carnelian with intaglio profile bust of Mercury wearing the petasos traveller's hat; supplied with a museum-quality impression. 0.78 grams, 14 mm



From the collection of a Swiss gentleman formed in Europe from 1970-1980s; thence by descent from the family in London.

And decorative designs, comprising bowls of various shapes and dates; together with a number of stems, some decorative. 1.2 kg total, 3.2-11.6 cm



Acquired 1990s-early 2000s. East Anglian private collection.