ID Help : What is it ?

[turanoid]

Hi there!
What do you think about of this item?

Material : Bronze
Size       : 100mm
Weight  : 2,88g.

[SC]

MY5IAN,

To me this looks like a seal.  It starts with a wire.  One end is flattened and a hole punched through.  The other end, while still plain is fed through a bag or box or lock or whatever is being sealed, then fed through the hole in the flattened end.  Then the plain end that was just fed through the hole is struck with a hammer, or more likely a punch with letters engraved on the bottom, which flattens it out slightly.  I would however expect it to be cut but maybe the item it was attached to was cut instead.

You can see modern versions used in the shipping and trucking industry these days.

I have never seen anything like this and it strikes me as an early-modern item, say 18th-early 20th century, but this is really just a guess.  I might be completely wrong.  I have just never heard of anything like this in the ancient world and this is clearly a well-though out, advanced item. 

Shawn

[mwilson603]

I was thinking exactly the same when I first saw it, a security seal for a chest or something similar.  The only thing I wasn't sure on was that would bronze have been the right metal for the purpose?  You would assume that a seal would need to be flexible, and strike easily "in-situ" for flattening the end.  Isn't bronze too hard for striking cold?  Does it have the flexibility required?
regards
Mark

[turanoid]

Hi everyone;
I have never seen that kind of item, but dark green patina tells us "It is definitely bronze" and also it`s from ancient period roman or hellenistic. we are thinking in sameway but have you ever seen like this item? Thanks for the helping me.

Best regards.