Isaakios Droulenos, mystikos and sebastos, 13th century. Seal (Lead, 39 mm, 18.92 g, 12 h). [Ο ΘЄΟΔⲰPOC] – O / CTPA/TH/ΛA/T/H/C Saint Theodore standing facing, nimbate, holding spear in his right hand and resting his left on shield set on ground. Rev. CΦPA[ΓIC] / CЄRACT[૪ MV/]CTIK૪ CTP[ATHΛA]/THC ICAA[KIOV] / ΔP૪ΛHN૪ C[TЄPPOC] / ΦVΛA[Ξ] ('The Stratelates is the stalwart protector of the seal of Isaac Droulenos, sebastos and mystikos') in six lines. Laurent, Corpus II 129. Wassiliou-Seibt 2837. Halved, otherwise, good very fine.


Our seal has the same metric legend as on a seal in Dumbarton Oaks, but it was evidently struck with a second boulloterion. In the first edition of the Dumbarton Oaks seal by Laurent, he read the personal name as Konstantinos. This was rightly corrected by Wassiliou-Seibt in her Corpus of metric legends and she also proposed to read MAPTVC across the third and fourth lines and O in reference to the Saint. However, comparing our new seal to the Dumbarton Oaks specimen, it seems that Laurent was right in reading MVCTIK૪.