Byzantine Lead Seal with Monogram

[Sosius]

Hi All,

Thanks so much for all for all of your help with the coins I posted earlier in the week for identification and/or confirmation.  Hope I am not overstaying my welcome, but I have a few more Byzantines that have been giving me fits, starting with this lead seal/bulla.

Obv: Nimbate bust
Rev: Monogram, but I could find a match on Numiswiki.  There were a couple of close ones, but none seemed to match the N-K in the middle
Weight: 8.17g
Diameter: 16 - 20mm

Any assistance would be appreciated!

Thanks in advance,
Cliff

[Gert]

Hi Cliff,
For monograms on Byzantine seals the Numiswiki page is pretty much useless. The reason is that these monograms on seals are personal monograms of the seal's owners, not imperial monograms of emperor's names. There are hundreds of different monograms published and thousands exist.
Your seal, however, has a monogram that can be solved NIKOLAOV, the genitive of Nicholas, who would have been the owner of the seal, assuming the letter at the bottom extremity is Alpha (and Lambda at the same time, of course).
The portrait on the obverse can well be Saint Nicholas as well, but from the photo I can't say for sure. For this time period (6th/7th century AD) St. Nicholas is quite rare, but with the reading of the monogram in mind, it would be a good guess.
Regards
Gert

[Sosius]

Hey, thanks, Gert for the informative response!  Sorry it took me a few days to reply.  I was off the grid (numismatically) all weekend.