Sale: CNG 66, Lot: 1833. Estimate $1500.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 19 May 2004.  Sold For $2600. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

CRUSADERS. Latin Patriarchs of Antioch. Aimery. 1142-1194. Lead Bulla (seal) (31.34 gm). +AIMERICVS PATRIARCH ANTIOCENVS, facing bust of Aimery, holding crozier / +SIGILLVM SANCTI PETRI APOSTOLI, nimbate facing bust of St. Peter. Schlumberger, Sigillographie pg. 87, 38 (pl. II, 6 and 9). VF, earthen patina. Rare. ($1500)

With the founding of the first Crusader state at Edessa in 1098, the European system of feudal administration was transfered to principalities of the East. Both feudal lords and the lords of the Catholic Church set up hierarchies to defend and govern the new territories. These offices and the functionaries who manned them used the traditional method of identifying themselves by the use of seals on official documents. These seals are valuable historical documents in themselves, in many cases providimg the sole contemporary evidence for these feudal lords and leaders of the church.