C. 14th-15th century

A nice example of a pewter pilgrim’s ampulla in the form of a flask with suspensory rings at the base of the neck. It is decorated with a scallop shell to one side and a shield bearing a Merchant mark to the other.

During the twelfth through fourteenth centuries, pilgrims who visited the Holy Land were likely to purchase an ampulla, outside the shrines of a revered saint. These were a type of container filled with holy water from the same sites or oil used for lamps burning before important pilgrimage shrines. The lure of the ampulla as an object capable of bestowing holy miracles gave it the same appeal as a relic. Thus, when pilgrims were not wearing their ampulla around their necks, they were using the contents within them to try to administer cures.

Intact and a very nice example.

Found River Thames.

Ref: Similar examples in Medieval Pilgrim & Secular Badges by M. Mitchiner, page 151.

Provenance: Ex Graham Slater Collection, Cambridge. Collected between 1980’s-1990’s.

Size: H: 49mm x W: 35mm