Thursday 5 January 2023


Five Silver Filigree Spheres from a Seventeenth Century Shipwreck.

Each approx. 3 cms in diam.

Found in a shipwreck (BZN17) off the Dutch Island of Texel (Wadden Islands).

Dendrochronology has established that the ship cannot have been launched before 1641

A recent study of filigree published in 2022.


 https://heritagesciencejournal.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40494-022-00710-9#Sec3

For the background of the shipwreck and books recovered see also -

 - https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0268117X.2022.2123847


In 2014, a group of maritime archaeological finds was discovered in a seventeenth century shipwreck (labelled BZN17) near the coast of Texel, a Dutch island. The ship is most likely Dutch but is still of unknown origin and destination. Over a thousand objects, including textiles, book bands, ceramics and precious metal finds were salvaged. The entire find complex is still under investigation, but the finds are believed to originate from different geographical areas, predominantly from current-day Germany, the Netherlands and several countries around the Mediterranean Sea. Among the group of precious metals, five almost identical hollow silver filigree spheres were found. Their diameter is about 30 mm and even though corrosion hinders visual identification, they appear to be gilded.




______________

A close match.
Victoria and Albert Museum



Approx 3 cms diam


Described as a pomander although from the photograph there is no obvious signs of hinge or clasp.

The V and A description -


Western European marks on the suspension loop, on knop and on lip of upper part of pomander. On suspension loop: traces of a rectangular mark, probably a Dutch import mark, a wolf's head. Knop: Dutch mark, a wolf's head, valid from 1814-1953 to indicate foreign silver; French 'weevil' mark stamped twice, valid for period 1835-1864, to indicate imported foreign silver. Rim of pomander: French 'weevil' mark, valid for period 1835-1864, to indicate imported foreign silver.


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Pomander 

16th /17th Century

German.

Harvard Museum



Inscriptions and Marks

inscription: center: IHS MARIA HILF UNS AUS NOT ON END


https://harvardartmuseums.org/art/218097






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