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Pilgrim Badges or Signs as they were known at the time, can in many ways be seen as the first mass produced souvenir. With pilgrimage being a virtual obsession throughout the middle ages it was found necessary (and profitable) to produce simple souvenirs to satisfy the pilgrims need to take away a token of the shrines 'magic'. Such badges were produced in enormous quantities and today many survive in museums and private collections to remind us of this fascinating aspect of popular medieval belief. Moulds were created by engraving the design into a block of fine-grained Solnhofen limestone. Although this was the favoured stone of the period, being imported from Bavaria specifically for the purpose, it is today very difficult to source. Once the mould is completed, the signs are cast in exactly the grade of metal that was favoured at the time, this being an alloy of tin and lead mixed to a specific proportion. Demonstrations consist of the medicon craft of pewter pilgrim badge making and follow the medieval manufacturing technique exactly. You will see moulds being created from fine grained limestone, into which pewter is proved to make the finished badge. |