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The O'Kelly Seal

I do not know who may posses this seal today but below is from a book written in the late 1800 of the description as to how it was discovered.  I am certain this seal is fairly modern perhaps made in the 1700s and I base my believe on the grated front face helmet that the writer states was "used to distinguish sovereign princes" which is true but this is a full face helmet that is reserved for Kings and it came into use sometimes after 1615 AD.  The use of helmets in coat of arms isn't widely found in the examples from the 19th century when this seal was said to have been discovered and in most all examples the helmets used with Coat of Arms are closed faced, the grated helmet used in this seal is rare in that time frame and and I can find no examples before the 19th century and helmet.    You may read the entire article in the The Journal of KilKenny beginning on page 447.  The author of this article concludes this seal belonged to someone closely related to William Boy O'Kelly.  The use of the full faced helmet causes me to think it is more likely a seal created about 1858, then aged to make it appear as if it had been through fire and a bog so it could be sold as an ancient artifact.  I think it likely that this seal is a fraud unless someone can find an document that bears the seal made by this stamp.  One has to remember that in the time of William Boy O'Kelly he was a true king in his own right and this arms is a very English so to find a Gaelic King using an Arms of this time in that time seems very unlikely.  I feel certain that there were O'Kellys Chiefs who lived among the English that did use such but I have doubts that William Boy O'Kelly and his immediate descendants would have mostly because stone Tower Houses like on this seal didn't appear in Ireland until the 15th century but the O'Kellys of Hy-many did built Stone Tower Houses, the Garbally Castle in Co Galway was built in 1499 by Malachy O'Kelly and that could be the source of this seal. "The relic which accompanies this paper was found May, 1858 by a person named Michael Barrett, at a depth of about 12 feet beneath the surface, in a bog more than a mile from Ballinasloe, in the direction of the ruins of Kilconnell Monastery.  Kilconnell is about six statute miles due west of Ballinasloe, and both these places are situated in that part of the county of Galway which was included in the ancient territor of Hy-Many, to which the O'Kelly family furnished a sovereign.  A considerable quantity of charcoal and cinders, such as produced by burning timber, was, I am told, found on the same spot.  When this seal was first shown to me, it was covered with that peculiar patina which time alone produces, and which, to a practiced eye, defies imitation; but the party who possessed it, afterwards, before I became the owner of the antique, had the false taste to brighten it.  The incised portions of the matrix, however, were not easily subjected to the polishing process; they, consequently, partially escaped it, and still retain some traces of the varnish given by age. "The seal and its handle are made of one piece of yellowish bronze, and seem to have been produced by a single operation in the foundry.  The handle, which is 2 inches in length, represents a friar of the Order of St Francis of the Strict Observance, with cowl upon his head, and his hands clasped upon his breast the ends of the knotted cord, which encircles his waist, hang down in front, and the rosary, composed of large beads, with pendant cross, is suspected at this right side.  "The matrix of the seal is in form an oval, whose diameters measure respectively eight-tenths and seven-tenths of an inch; its face presents (surrounded by some antique scroll-work) the armorial ensigns of O'Kelly, prince of the country of Hy-Many, or Hy-Maine.  This territory extended over a great portion of the modern countries of Galway and Roscommon; its boundaries may be readily traced by referring to the 'Tribes and Customs of Hy-Many.' as edit by the learned and indefatigable scholar, John O'Donovan, LL.D.  The arms borne by O'Kelly, king of his country, Hy-Many are those engraven on this seal; they are Mars, a castle between lions, combatant rampant, Luna.  Over the shield is the grated, front-faced helmet, used to distinguish sovereign princes; above this is the crest of O'Kelly, namely, an Enfield, statant, Venus, with a busy tail turned over his back.