THE Craven Curiosity featured last week was fairly easy to identify as a seal, though much harder to date.

Cath Cooney said: “This week’s object looks to be a seal used on wax to secure correspondence safely,” while Andy Sumnall considered it: “looks like a seal depicting St George slaying the Dragon - medieval 13th/14th century, or 17th century.”

It is indeed a bronze seal, from the collection of the Upper Wharfedale Folk Museum in Grassington, and according to an undated clipping from the Craven Herald, was found in the River Wharfe near Bolton Abbey in 1894 by a gardener, Thomas Roose.

It depicts a knight slaying a dragon, originally thought to be Robert the Bruce, but later considered to be a representation of St Michael. It would have been hung around the neck and used for sealing letters but its date of origin is still unknown.

Meanwhile, excitingly, the mystery of the “dustbin-lid” like Curiosity with four small holes that we featured in the April 4 edition appears to have been solved.

Our grateful thanks go to reader Emma Slater, who emailed to say: “The unsolved disc-shaped Craven Curiosity is a vintage Snow Coaster or Saucer Sled.

“It’s probably from the 1950s or 1960s, and more than likely from the USA, where this type of sled was - and still is - popular.

“You sit inside the saucer, hold on to the handles at the sides for stability, and use a rope or wire through the widely spaced holes at the front for steering down a snowy slope.

“They are still widely available to buy in the USA, albeit in brightly-coloured powder coated steel rather than aluminium.”

This week’s Curiosity is pictured above - where can it be found and what was its function?

Please send suggestions by 8am on Monday to news@craven herald.co.uk