Cloth Seal, Alnage, King on Ship

Cloth Seal, Alnage, King on Ship, Image & Owned by James Crombie.
Found by Gavin Leng on Seaview Beach, Isle of Wight, 17mm.

Figure standing facing in a ship holding sword in right hand and shield in left // possible inscription but to faint to read (the finder suggests E D W)

The current owner, James Crombie, should be congratulated for bringing this seal to light. Rod Blunt should also be congratulated for his identification (reproduced below) on UKDFD where it was first recorded as UKDFD:50091.

"A very rare two-disc lead alnage seal of the late medieval to early post-medieval period. The face of the rivet disc depicts a figure of the king standing facing in a ship, holding a sword in his right hand and a shield in his left. The design reflects that used on the English gold coinage: the noble (e.g. UKDFD 45549) and its half, struck from 1344 (Edward III), and the ryal or rose noble (e.g. UKDFD 33606) and its half, struck from 1464 (Edward IV). The rivet-end and the rove disc appear to be plain. The connecting strip is intact. ...
Discussion
The rarity of the seal is evident by the absence of any mention of a similar example in Geoff Egan's papers: (1) Alnage Seals And The National Coinage - Some Parallels In Design, published in Vol. 61 of The British Numismatic Journal (1991), and (2) Lead Cloth Seals and Related Items in the British Museum, BM Occasional Paper 93. Searches of the PAS database, the UKDFD and the Bagseal Gallery website have also failed to produce any similar seals.

In the first of the papers cited above, Egan notes that the earliest English lead cloth seal identified at the time dated to the reign of Richard II (1377-99). Dating the present seal is hampered to some extent by wear, as it is unclear whether the hull of the ship had a rose at its centre. This is a key difference between the earlier nobles, which had no rose, and the later rose nobles, which, as their name implies, did. On balance, there are more likely traces of a worn rose than not, which would indicate a post 1464 date. The last ryals to bear this design (but clearly depicting a queen) were struck during the reign of Mary Tudor.

On the basis of the above, the seal is most likely to date late 15th to mid 16th century, but could be as early as mid 14th century if there is no rose on the ship's hull. The record is designated of special significance."

Both Geoff Egan and Rod Blunt independently identified the design as most probably corresponding to that found on the Edward IV’s ryal or’rose noble’ of 1464/5.

The position of Seaview Beach on the Isle of Wight overlooks the Solent, already a major shipping route in Medieval times. Ships are known to have been the main method transporting large consignments of cloth (and most other bulky goods) around Britain at that time. This seal could well have come from a wreck and there would likely have been many others with it.

From James Crombie regarding the bottom images, "the lettering E D W.....V....X representing on the seals reverse EDWARDICVS REX, these five letters can be read from this photograph. You may recall the finder of the seal Gavin Leng stated he could read the letters E D W when the seal was handed in for processing and assessing. ...looking at the left side of the ship we can establish three plank layers above the water-line. Also note NO TUDOR ROSE appears anywhere along this plank line. So the coin represented here is NOT a ROSE NOBLE (which has a rose depicted) but however is indeed a NOBLE. Confirming the depiction represents a Noble from the time of EDWARD III. I’m now certain this cloth seal is from the Edward III period and these two photos establish this conclusion as fact."