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Description: | Cast lead two-part alnage cloth seal with raised crosses and oblique lines on the upper face, in two rows of Roman numerals XX/III. This number of 23 represents the length of the cloth in yards."The seal is most likely to have been put on the textile by the weaver or clothier or a local cloth inspector, but it does not state where the cloth originated. It dates from the 16th century." (Geoff Egan pers comm)"Lead seals were put on commercially produced cloths as part of a complicated system of industrial regulation, known in England as the alnage, under which quality control and the levying of tax of a few pence per newly manufactured cloth was administered until 1724." (Egan in Saunders 2001, p.43)So this seal shows that an alnager, who was an officer of the crown, had given his stamp of approval: that the tax had been paid and the quality of cloth was good enough for the market.Egan (1994) illustrates similar examples with Roman numerals on page 175 & 177, Figs.24 & 26, Nos.105 & 121-2, which date from the late 16th century to the early 17th century.
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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