The ten Minoan and two Island seals, which are here published for the first time (plate X), form part of the Bosanquet Collection of the City of Liverpool Museum. Although there exists a card-index for the collection, the entries for these twelve seals give no indication of their provenience: apart from No. 9 below which is described as having been ‘bought in Athens’ there is no record of whether they were found in the course of excavation or were purchased by Professor R. C. Bosanquet. Bosanquet was himself, with R. M. Dawkins, one of the original excavators of the site of Palaikastro, but there is no evidence to show that the Minoan seals were discovered on or near the site; and in the absence of any indication, their origin must remain unknown.The seals themselves are in varying states of preservation. No. 7 is perhaps the least satisfactory, showing signs of extreme wear, although several of the others are by no means negligible additions to the Corpus. Nos. 1, 3 and 5 in particular are excellent representatives of their type. Indeed these ten Minoan stones offer a surprisingly wide sample of the total range of Minoan Glyptic, from the three-sided prism seal of MM IA (No. 1) to two LM III lentoids (Nos. 9–10), and including on the way examples of hieroglyphic, architectural and talismanic designs. Of the remaining two, No. 11 is a good and characteristic example of the Melian winged creature type, while No. 12 is a curious and enigmatic seal, probably also to be regarded as an Island gem.
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