James,

You will need a scientist familiar with such historic objects and materials
to do a proper analysis of the seal. You can try the NCPTT web site (National
Center for Preservation Technology) at: http://www.ncptt.nps.gov/

Follow the Materials research link and then the Knowledge Center link.

You can also contact the conservation department at Winterthur Museum
(http://www.winterthur.org/about/collection_care.asp) or a scientist at the McCrone
research Institute in Chicago (http://www.mcri.org/).

As far as the finding of Roman coins on colonial American sites I heard of
one instance where a 1st century a.d. Roman coin was found at the 17th century
plantation site of Nathaniel Bacon (of Bacon's Rebellion fame) at Curles Neck,
near Richmond, Virginia. The site was excavated by Daniel Mouer of Virginia
Commonwealth University.

Cheers!
Dave

David Harvey
Artifacts
2930 South Birch Street
Denver, CO  80222
303-300-5257
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