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Description: | An incomplete cast lead two part Norwich Weaver's Company cloth seal, dating to the Post Medieval period, between AD 1650 - 1705 (length: 22mm; average diameter: 19mm; thickness: 3mm; weight: 4.4g).At the top of seal, there is a sub-rectangular connecting strip that is folded back on itself (length: 3 mm; width: 5mm) with two circular discs linked to it and laying back to back. Disc 1 has an inscription in four probable lines reading W[OR]/[S]TE[D]/[R]EFO[R]/[MED], while Disc 2 has unclear markings in the centre and an inscription around the outside edge, which is only partially visible: [ ]H DES [ ]. The lead rivet in between the two discs joining them together Is not visible as a result of the artefact becoming crushed. 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', page 43 & 173, fig 22, ref no 87. As previously stated, this artefact is a Norwich Weaver's Company Seal, probably for textiles 27 yards long. These are common seals as there was a large national and international market at the time. Two seals were attached, one at each end of the cloth, to every worsted examined at Norwich from the mid-seventeenth century until 1705 (when sealing there ceased) (Egan, 1995, page 46). 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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