Cloth Seal, Alnage, County Portcullis, Image by StuE, Found by Paul Hewett.
Found in Essex, 21mm, 5.8g.
Crowned portcullis 3x3 lattice // missing, undecipherable markings on rivet head
See:- 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, "Crown-over-Portcullis Series of County Seals. This group is one of the largest recorded. The basic design is: crown over chained portcullis (usually with a lattice of 3X3 squares) with various abbreviations, usually for 'sigillum ulnagii pannorum venalium in comitatu... ' (seal of alnage of saleable cloths in the county of... ) in Lombardic letters. Stamps with Roman-letter legends have ER to the sides of a portcullis with a lattice of 3X3, 4X3, or 4X4 squares and an abbreviated version of 'sigillum pro comitatu... '(seal for the county of... ). The most common abbreviations are: (for Lombardic-letter legends) S'VLN'PAO'VEAL'I CO'...;(for Roman-letter legends) ... PRO-COMITA ... ...Even where (presumably genuine) portcullis seals had edge legends, few stamps registered fully. Those on which the place of origin is legible, seem, on present evidence, to have been in the minority."
