Henry Richard Greville 3rd Earl Warwick Gold Bloodstone Intaglio Wax Seal Matrix

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Henry Richard Greville 3rd Earl Warwick Gold Bloodstone Intaglio Wax Seal Matrix:
$9975.00

For your consideration is an early nineteenth-century aristocratic watch fob seal dating to circa 1820, mounted in gold and set with an oval bloodstone intaglio matrix measuring approximately 13.5 11 mm. The seal measures approximately 24 16.5 mm including the suspension loop and weighs approximately 3.91 grams. The mount is formed in gold with a slender bifurcated shank rising to a circular bezel designed to suspend from a gentlemans watch chain, a fashionable accessory widely worn by members of the British aristocracy and gentry during the late Georgian and Regency periods.

The bloodstone matrix is engraved in reverse with a heraldic device consisting of a bear standing beneath an earls coronet, a configuration historically associated with the heraldic badges connected to the Earls of Warwick. The bear is depicted in profile with carefully incised musculature and defined limbs, rendered with controlled line engraving typical of Regency gem engraving. Above the animal appears a clearly defined coronet composed of a circlet surmounted by raised points and pearls, identifying the rank of an earl within the British peerage.

The bear is among the most historically recognizable heraldic badges associated with the Warwick title, closely linked to the traditional bear and ragged staff device long connected with the medieval Earls of Warwick and later perpetuated within heraldic and symbolic usage connected to the title. Such heraldic imagery would have served as a recognizable badge of aristocratic identity when impressed into sealing wax on correspondence and documents.

Dating to circa 1820, during the closing years of the reign of George III and the Regency preceding the reign of George IV, the present seal represents a refined survival of early nineteenth-century British heraldic craftsmanship. The combination of goldsmith work and finely engraved bloodstone matrix reflects the traditions of gem engraving and aristocratic personal accessories that formed an integral part of social identity and correspondence practices within the British peerage.