Cloth Seal, Alnage, Lennox, Essex

Cloth Seal, Alnage, Lennox, Essex, Image by Karen Ellis-Andrews, Found by Roy Ellis.
Found on the Thames Foreshore, 20mm.

Blank // Ducal coronet over LR ligate, THE COVNTY OF ESSEX around // crowned arms of England, (C) / 2 to left, R / 1/2 to right // blank

A four-part alnage seal for the county of Essex for 2 1/2d subsidy. The Dukes and Duchess of Richmond and Lennox held the farm of the alnage for most of England from 1605 –1724. Perhaps it is C R rather than the suspected E R and the arms of England were retained to begin with until the arms of Stuart Britain were perfected by the die cutters.