Seal of Benvenisti Alguandul – Spain, 14th Century

Seal of Benvenisti Alguandul – Spain, 14th Century
Seal of R. Benvenisti Alguandul. Spain, [ca. 14th century].
Bronze, cast and engraved.
Engraved (Hebrew) inscription: "Benvenist[i] bar [son of] Moshe, may he rest in Eden, Alguandul, " in clear letters. The inscription encircles an ornament consisting of a tower and two stars.
The name "Benvenisti, " known today mostly as a surname, also served in some regions as a given name during certain periods (see, for example, Daniel M. Friedenberg, "Medieval Jewish Seals from Europe, " Wayne State University Press, Detroit, 1987, pp. 78, 134). The name "Alguandul" is found in the Sephardi name database at Sephardicgen.com, citing Gemma Escribà and Raquel Ibáñez-Sperber, "The Tortosa disputation: regesta of documents from the Archivo de la Corona de Aragon, Fernando I, 1412-1416." (Jerusalem, 1998).
The tower motif also appears on a 14th-century seal of the Jewish community of Seville ("Isbilya"), a prominent Jewish center in Andalusia (see the British Museum, collection item no. OA.1566; and "Medieval Jewish Seals from Europe", p. 133).
See also previous item.
Diameter: 2.5 cm.
Enclosed: Analysis report from the Institut für Ur- und Frühgeschichte und Archäologie des Mittelalters, the University of Tübingen (analysis of the corrosion).