English: A cast copper alloy Roman seal box lid of second or third century date. It is lozenge shaped with a small, semicircular projection from each corner. At one end is a perforated lug to take the hinge pin; part of the projection has broken away and is missing. At the opposite end is a corresponding, decorative lug, this one unperforated. The lid is decorated with a raised lattice of small lozenge shapes; many of the cells thus created retain their enamel. The central lozenge is pale blue, though this colour may have faded; that adjacent to each of the four sides of the central lozenge is red; to the left and right of the central lozenge is a yellow lozenge and beyond them a red lozenge. The others, like that in the centre are a faded, pale blue colour. The underside of the lid is concave with the four sides tapering slightly inwards. There are notches in the sides to allow the cord to enter the box. The lid displays an even, light green patina. It is 30.3mm long, 21.7mm wide and 3.5mm thick. It weighs 3.88gm.

Similar seal box lids are illustrated in Allason-Jones and Miket, 1979, Catalogue of Small Finds From South Shields Roman Fort, page 153.

The box would have protected a wax seal on a document or package. The seal would have been attached by a cord which ran through the box and seal and attached to the item.