Cloth Seal, Worcester, Alnage, RV

Cloth Seal, Worcester, Alnage, RV, Image & Held by Mike Patrick.
Bought on Ebay, 15mm.

Blank // 16(24) / RV, CI.WORCESTER around // shield bearing ridged cross, .THE.STA.SVBS(I)D(I)E.SEALE rose around // blank

A complete four-disc alnage seal for city of Worcester - (Civitas Worcester). Unfortunately the last two digits of the date 1624 are not certain and the 2 may be an inverted 5, 1654 would fit in with the Commonwealth period (see below). RV are previously unknown alnager initials.

Disc three matches No.54, Fig.18 Geoff Egan, 'Lead Cloth Seals and Related Items in the British Museum' Occasional Paper 93. "(offstruck) shield with ridged cross, THE S...IDIE SEA dotted pentagram around" and see the third disc description of seal 4321, p.143, Provenanced Leaden Cloth Seals by Geoffrey Egan, Sub-Department of Medieval Archaeology, University College, University of London. submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, 1987. "lion rampant // CAN / TERBV /+ RI +/ +TP (ligature)+ // cross in shield, "THE" STA: SVBSIDIE"SEA: rose around // C/AD The legend on the third disc is presumably 'the state subsidy seal'. ... those with the shield having a cross are likely to be of Commonwealth date, when the cross of St George was a prominent national symbol."

See also BSG.CS.00155 for a probable parallel to disc three of this seal.