Chemical Composition: XRF data from Tracer
Alloy: Mixed Copper Alloy
Alloying Elements: copper, tin, antimony
Other Elements: lead, iron, nickel, silver, arsenic
K. Eremin, January 2014
Technical Observations: The patina is primarily green, with darker brown in worn areas and under the rust-colored accretions on one side that run across part of two of bird heads. Some tan burial accretions remain in the recesses.
This stamp was cast in one piece by the lost-wax process. The surface is quite worn and the details smoothed, making it difficult to characterize the quality of the details or to determine whether some details were cold worked rather than cast. Some of the short strokes that define the coiled rope pattern on the base of the stamp appear to have been created with a punch or chisel in the metal. The sharp definition of some of the patterns in the stamp suggest that they were probably at least enhanced with punches in the metal.
Francesca G. Bewer (submitted 2012)
