Robert Deutsch passed this along and asked me to post it, which I am more than happy to do.
Dear All
The attached seal from the Moussaieff coll., probably belonged to the father of Rapayahu from Jerusalem. It has the same dotes serving as space fillers and was probably made in the same workshop (in Jerusalem ?)
We can also observe the paponym phenomenon (son named after the grand father). The iconography can also be compared with the Shlomit seal recently found also by the same “seal finder” at Jerusalem.
(Deutsch and Lemaire 2000, p. 90.
Sincerely
Robert Deutsch
UPDATE: Aren Maeir tells of the Gath Connection.
[...] Read the entire letter and see the seal here. [...]
Good point made by Robert Deutsch. Style, name and iconography do suggest the same worshop and quite possibly so the same ‘father’. The person who found the seal was not Eilat Mazar (if I understood correctly) but Ronny Reich who found it near the Gihon spring.
Thank You So Very Much Dr. West for this very interesting information and for Your Open-mindedness and Your Courage in posting it!!!!!!! Thank You Dr. Deutsch for all of Your Hard Work in publishing these seals and bullae. Thank You Dr. van der Veen for Your Insights and the correction. It was Professor Ronny Reich and Eli Shukron who are credited with excavating the seal of Repha’yahu (son of) Shallum.
With Much Gratitude,
Sincerely Yours,
Mike Welch
Deltona, Florida
[...] the Gath connection! In the last few days, the web has been busy (such as here and here and here and numerous others) with discussions of the new Iron Age II seal that was just reported from [...]