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Description: | An incomplete cast lead two part clothiers', weavers' or searchers' personal cloth seal, dating to the late 16th/ 17th century (length: 28mm; average diameter: 20.5mm; thickness: 4mm; weight: 7.2g).At the top of seal, there is a sub-rectangular connecting strip that is folded back on itself (length: 7.5mm; width: 4.5mm) with two circular discs linked to it laying back to back. Disc 1 is completely plain with no decoration, while Disc 2 has the remains of a circle divided into quarters by what appears to be a cross with a bar to the left surrounded by a stamped circle of beading. There are the remains of a lead rivet in between the two discs. Overall, the artefact is in a worn and poor condition.A similar example is illustrated in Egan, G, 1995, British Occasional Paper 93, 'Lead Cloth Seal and Related Items in the British Museum', pages 82 & 182, fig 31, ref no 221. Cloth seals were in use between the 13th and 19th centuries and were part of a system of industrial regulation and quality control which became very complicated, particularly in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries (Egan, 1995, page 1).
Original Image | Publisher: | http://finds.org.uk | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Identifier: | http://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/r... | Go to resource |
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