object found in wexford need help

wexfordman99

hi everyone
ive put this off for far too long (30 years) and i have this thing since i was very young.
I found it in a wall one winters day, i did try years ago before we had internet and i sent pics to the National museum and they didnt shed much light on it only check Burke's books.
i went to visit my local historian and he said it could be a button or seal maybe landed gentry?

its about an inch wide, and looks like a marble cut in half but its not broken this is its state.
the crest or writing is like gold etched into the glass

i would really love find out what it is and who owned it, and its history and why was it where i found it

PS SORRY NO PICS AS ITS MY FIRST POST AND YOU HAVE TO POST 50 TIMES BEFORE YOURE ALLOWED POST IMAGES, I CAN EMAIL PICS TO WHOEVER WANT THEM

endacl

Any chance you might show us whatever it is you're talking about...?

wexfordman99

how do i post photos?

endacl

Check in the 'FAQ' section.

Boards.ie: Niamh

Users with less than 50 posts can't post photos I'm afraid but if you want to email a pic to me, I can post it up for you. I'm intrigued to see what it looks like

niamh@boards.ie

wexfordman99

thanks

Boards.ie: Niamh

Boards.ie: Niamh

Boards.ie: Niamh

whisky_galore

If the writing wasn't on it, I would have thought it was a lens for a small flash light.

Otherwise with the letters, I would think it was something to do with the landed gentry or maybe a religious order.
Not a button (no fixing at the back) or a seal (letters would stand out, it would be made of metal and letters would be in reverse), but an inset decorative piece from something? Maybe top of a walking stick or riding crop or something??

Where was the wall? At the side of the road or in a field or farmyard? Maybe start looking up names of local families with 'de' in their surnames as it looks like a monogram of someone's name?

Big Davey

Boards.ie: Niamh wrote: »

Nice.

wexfordman99

Found in a village stone walk. from what Im told the D and E are usually the first and last letter in the family name such as Doyle Dunne Doyne

pedroeibar1

It looks very like the top part of a button - very high quality, look at the definition of the D E inset. The initials are MH. Possibly from a liveried servant's coat?

whisky_galore

wexfordman99 wrote: »

Found in a village stone walk. from what Im told the D and E are usually the first and last letter in the family name such as Doyle Dunne Doyne

I was thinking it a name with a 'De' in it similar to De Burgh/De Courcy/De Lacy, like an Anglo Norman surname.

spideog7

pedroeibar1 wrote: »

It looks very like the top part of a button - very high quality, look at the definition of the D E inset. The initials are MH. Possibly from a liveried servant's coat?

There's a C in there also I think.

Greenmachine

Have to say it really looks like an interesting piece.

wexfordman99

Can you see a big letter C there too

wexfordman99

The village is about ten miles from Wells House owned once by Doyne

Fries-With-That

I think it is a cane top. The initials look like C H M and a De

I think its a Norman name like Chris De Burg.

I'd be researching Norman families in the area if I was you.

whisky_galore

Well, lookee here...there is such a thing as a combined walking stick/flashlight.

http://galleryplus.ebayimg.com/ws/web/161324838496_1_1_1.jpg

Might not be a stretch for someone to get it engraved.

wexfordman99

A local historian said the capital D and E in a crest or something like the usually is the family name first and last letter. Like Doyle Dunne i don't have access to Burkes landed Gentry or Peerage .

lostinNaas

Could be this chap's monogram

wexfordman99

Not a torch. I know the wall i found this in was built well over a hundred years or more.

whisky_galore

wexfordman99 wrote: »

Not a torch. I know the wall i found this in was built well over a hundred years or more.

Small battery torches have been knocking around since the 1910's/1920's at least. Not everyone might have had them or could afford them.
You might well find a Tayto packet stuffed into an old stone wall, doesn't follow that it's a 100 y/o Tayto packet.

wexfordman99

Thank you all for your kind help.
LostinNaas id you're right. That's the info i didn't have. Hon Charles Mervyn Doyne lived in Wells House as sheriff of Wexford.
This was in the wall and possibly stolen who knows during the rising. ?
Or as the historian said could have fallen from his coat when the laymen were building it.
I Will try get more on this man and let you know

tac foley

M C H and de - not necessarily in that order. My own family name is A de C, not that it matters here.

It is intriguing and not a cheap bauble either.

tac

Fries-With-That

Charles Mervyn Doyne doesn't add up.

The initials are all capitals, the DE in small capitals with the other three letters, indicates to me someone using 2 christian names and a surname.

Martin Horace DE Confounded

I would imagine that the letters are silver and would have been placed into the glass when it was blown or cast.

DE Courcey, DE Burg, DE Paor are all samples of the prefix.

A good jeweller that does engraving would be able to tell you in what order the letters were intended to be read as this style of engraving was common on silver.

I was lucky enough to pick up a silver cigarette case (in my smoking days) with my initials on it in this layered style. 3 letters one on top of the other.

Jellybaby1

It looks like M H C. The 'H' is smaller so possibly of lesser importance than the other letters. No idea about the DE, something like De Courcy as previously mentioned but I would have thought that both D and E would not have been upper case. I hope you find out about it. How about your local history group or local librarian might be able to dig some information up for you.

wexfordman99

My local historian said years ago the to me that the D and E was the Family name and this is how it was shown in an insignia
the first and last letter.
DoylE
DunnE
DoynE
the middle part wouldn't be shown
and the big fancy letters were their first name.