George kouboukleisios, imperial cleric, kankellarios (?) . . . (tenth/eleventh century)

Commentary

The reverse of this seal is badly damaged and difficult to decipher. The first word is cleric, apparently with the abbreviation for imperial before it. Following that, in  his unpublished catalogue of the Shaw collection, Laurent originally read καὶ χαρτουλαρίῳ in his unpublished catalogue of the Shaw collection, before correcting it to καγκελλαρίου, a more satisfactory reading. Following that, the seal becomes even more difficult to decipher. In the fourth line, the letters ΝΟ are clearly visible, and could function as part of a number of words, specifically notarios, deacon, or oikonomos. The last visible letter, an Ε in the fifth line, does not make matters any easier. It is possible perhaps that this letter is the latter Ε of Μεγαλής Ἐκκλησίας, in one of the many abbreviated forms of the term for the Great Church. This would be possible as a placename to be associated with notarios, deacon, or oikonomos. Without a parallel seal, unfortunately all we can do is enumerate these possibilities.