14th-15th century AD. A pewter pilgrim's badge of Melusine, a female anguiped, facing with shoulder-length hair, ribbed collar, nude torso, two curved fishtails 4.77 grams, 55mm (2 1/4"). Property of a East Anglia gentleman; previously in a private collection formed before 2000. Melusine is a figure from northern French folklore who had the upper body of a woman and the lower body of a fish, or two fish-tails instead of legs. She was married to a human nobleman, who had to promise never to look in upon her in the bath. When he did so, he discovered that her lower body reverted to that of a fish on contact with water; having broken his word, she left him in anger. The best known literary version of the Melusine tales is the work of Jean d'Arras, compiled about 1382-1394.