BSG.OS.00070 — Not a Seal, Lead Horn Book

Found in Market Weighton East Yorkshire.

A small sheet of lead with five rows of characters on each side. One side has patterned row above the alphabet (with a retrograde S) and the other possibly a name - (T)HOMAS / BROTHER (again with retrograde S) / (I)DDEBOM / ESME FEK / IT. (a grid) IO>e

Horn books were originally a single page protected by a transparent sheet of horn, primarily used in teaching children to read. It was easier to make them from lead like this one. See HISTORY OF THE HORN-BOOK from the Spectator Archive.