A fob seal with engraved banded agate, apparently unmarked, tests as 9ct gold, the base of octagonal stepped form set with a banded agate engraved with an as yet unidentified coat of arms between the crest and motto of JOHN-WOULFE FLANAGAN ESQUIRE of Drumoe, Co. Roscommon, Ireland, simple supporting frame, 26 x 23mm at the base, 12.3g gross John Woulfe-Flanagan (1852-1929) was born on April 6th, 1852, the eldest of six sons and five daughters of Stephen Woulfe Flanagan PC, a judge of the landed estates court and owner of 3,500 acres in Sligo and Roscommon, and his wife Mary Deborah, daughter of John Richard Corballis QC. After studies at Oscott and Balliol College, Oxford, he was called to the English bar and was high sheriff of Co Roscommon. The Flanagans were an eminent Irish Catholic legal family, but John only practised briefly, specialising in conveyancing. Early in 1886 he joined the staff of The Times, where he remained until his death. He was a protagonist in the newspaper campaign against Charles Stewart Parnell, Member of Parliament and leader of the Irish Home Rule League and was the chief writer of Times during World War I. He married his cousin, Maria Emily Sheil, daughter of Major General Sir Justin Shiel, British envoy in Persia (1844-1854) on April 29th 1880. He died on November 16th 1929 at his home in Chelsea, London.