90 Bronze Roman Stamp in possession of N. Story Maskelyne, Esq. , 



in the Roman cross-how, and that the bone catch may have revolved 1 

 on one of the transverse bars. All these iron articles are much'/ 

 corroded. 



Half of a pair of plain bronze tweezers 2f in. long — a plain piece 

 of thin bronze which has been used as a clamp for some rectangular 

 object, possibly the cross-bow stock — and a whetstone of hard white 

 stone about 3in. in length, complete the list of objects found. 



BRONZE ROMAN STAMP IN THE POSSESSION OF L 

 N. STORY MASKELYNE, ESQ., F.R.S. 



The only record of the origin of this interesting object, figured! j 

 No. 7. on the accompanying plate, is that it was found many years 

 ago, " in a field at Broad Hinton." It is here figured full size — I 

 1 -|f- in. long and -j^in. wide. The inscription is given as it appears 

 in the impression made by the stamp — on the stamp itself the 1 \ 

 lettering is of course reversed. The letters stand up in high relief 

 on the stamp, making a deep impression on the wax. Mr. Haver- | 

 field, the well-known authority on Roman inscriptions, to whom j 

 an impression was sent, writes : — " I cannot say anything definite j 

 as to use or date. The Roman metal stamps were used to stamp i 

 almost all impressible substances (e.g., bread in one instance at I 

 Pompeii) ; the pottery stamps are, however, usually quite different, j . 

 The names Servius Sulpicius suggest for a date the end of the first j . 

 century A.D. (cf. the Emperor Galba), but this does not go for 

 much. Abascantus — a Greek name — (i.e., a Greek freedman 11 

 trading here) is common." The name Abascantus occurs on the 

 pig of lead discovered on Matlock Moor in 1894, and described in 

 The Antiquary, May, 1894. 



The stamp is of bronze, and has attached to the back a portion 

 of a ring, evidently meant to put the finger through when it was 

 in use. It was noticed in The Antiquary for October, 1894, p. 138, 

 but has not otherwise been published or described. A wax im- 

 pression has been placed in the Society's Museum. 



E. H. GODDARD. 



