Green Man Roundel

A bearded face wreathed in oak leaves looks out from a round of cast bronze about the size of a large button, the beard and foliage worked in enough relief to throw real shadow, so the expression shifts slightly depending on the light. The reverse is left plain but for a small loop, and the piece comes threaded on a waxed cord dyed a deep forest green. Carved foliate heads like this one appear on churches, cathedrals, and civic buildings right across medieval Europe, tucked into roof bosses and column capitals where a mason apparently felt the vegetation needed a face. The name "Green Man" itself is comparatively modern, coined by Lady Raglan in a 1939 article that gathered these older carvings under one label; folklore since has read the figure as a spirit of vegetation, of the returning spring, of growth that cannot be stopped for long. Each roundel is cast in a small foundry from a hand-sculpted original, then given a chemical patina that darkens the recesses of the leaves while leaving the raised face brighter, a contrast that will shift further with handling over the years. A steadying thing for a desk drawer or a coat pocket as much as a neck — many keep theirs where a hand can find it on a bad day.