MEDIEVAL PILGRIM BADGE

Gilded silver pilgrim's badge in good condition, representing St Nicholas. The figure of the saint, robed as a bishop, is in the centre; the head is missing and also his right arm which was originally raised in blessing. The bishop's vestments consist of a loose robe edged with a broad collar decorated with pellets, and with a vertical stripe down the front also decorated with pellets. In front of him and slightly to his right are three children, and his left hand is resting on the head of the child at one end. Each child has a bent-up arm. The lower half of the figures is masked by a crescent moon, triangular in cross-section and edged with a twisted cable. On the reverse, which has much less gilding, is a strip of silver bent round to form a vertical loop and attached behind the saint's chest. This very well-made badge depicts the story of the 'three boys in a brine-tub'.One of the most famous stories of St Nicholas (bishop of Myra in Turkey in the 4th century AD) tells of how, when he had come into his large inheritance quite young, he wanted to use his money for good works. He heard that there was a man with three daughters who had lost all his money, and so could not pr