Bidspirit auction | Gold Engraved Touchpiece

Gold Engraved Touchpiece - 17th century A.D. or earlier. Barrel-shaped with two impressed flat faces, one with a later engraving of a guilloche border and looped tendrils framing reserved initials 'PO P[R]' above and lower 'NU [.]M'; possibly a touchpiece or love token. Harfellet, Geoffrey, A Roman or Anglo-Saxon Fertility Amulet?, Treasure Hunting Magazine, April 2018, p.15. 5.53 grams, 17 mm (3/4 in.). Acquired since the 1970s.From the private collection of a Surrey, UK, gentleman.Accompanied by a copy of the article 'A Roman or Anglo-Saxon Fertility Amulet?' published in Treasure Hunting Magazine. The design is reserved and very faint; the outer guilloche is quite convincing but the details of the design are hard to determine, and may always have been quite indistinct. The impression is of a 17th century love token with the initials of the couple. The finder's article implies an Anglo-Saxon date, probably on the strength of the guilloche which was often use on early Saxon metalwork - but it is a long-lived motif and not specific to that one period. [No Reserve]