ENGLISH CHRISTIAN PILGRIM'S BADGE, 14TH-15TH CENTURY AD

Circular, under 3/4” diameter. White metal, probably a tin-lead pewter alloy. Wheel form with the cross within the pierced ground. The cross beam with pelleted terminals and the rim hatched. Almost certainly a reference to the Wheel of Fortune, the belief carried on into the Christianity period. The top has a flared thickened end tubular bail, with a small stringing hole for wire, for suspension, intact. These were produced in the Holy Land for pilgrims who wore them at home as prestige symbols. They were sold at shrines of saints where holy relics of the saints, and sometimes, the whole corpus was preserved. The symbols are specific to the life and achievements of the saint. Pilgrims wore them strung as necklaces, on hats, or attached to their clothing.