Cloth Seal, Clothier's Seal, Leeds, Stars on Shield

Cloth Seal, Leeds, Stars on Shield, Image by Derfel, Found by Andrew Bryson.
Found on Thames Foreshore, 29mm.

(1503 ?) / 222 (all scratched) // three five pointed stars underlined on a shield (probably coat of arms of Leeds City)

"In 1662, after the Restoration of Charles II, the chief inhabitants of Leeds petitioned for a new charter, this being granted by the King on 2 November of that year. By this charter the chief citizen became a mayor, and the person elected as first Mayor was Thomas Danby, whose arms were: argent, three chevrons braced sable, on a chief sable, three mullets argent. So to the 1626 Leeds arms were added the chief sable three mullets argent (silver stars). It was said by the late Sir W.H. St John Hope "that the townsfolk devised for themselves a pretty and most appropriate shield of arms". But the arms were not settled until 1836, when the Corporation was reconstituted under the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, and on the Borough Seal the full insignia of shield, crest, supporters, and the Motto "Pro Rege et Lege" were engraved." From Leeds Civic Trust.

See also PAS SWYOR-A77F66. The other side appears blank apart from scratch marks commonly found on cloth seals - in this case could be interpreted as 3307 underlined and another 37 at the bottom. See other Leeds seals.