Cloth Seal, Canterbury, Alnage

Cloth Seal, Canterbury, Image by Derfel, Found by Peter Olivant.
Found on the Thames foreshore, 28 x 14mm.

Thick curved line // CAN / TERBV / +RI+ / +TP+ ligature // crowned fleur-de-lis, C R to sides // possible lion rampant

A complete four-disc Canterbury alnage seal.

See 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'." Ibid, p142, "Further seals ... are for the alnager TP/PT (also known on Essex seals nos. 134 etc. and cf. Norwich nos. 1386 etc.)"
See Geoff Egan, Nos. 54 & 55, Fig. 18 'Lead Cloth Seals and Related Items in the British Museum' Occasional Paper 93.
"The two preceding seals are likely to be for the silk fabrics woven by the Walloon refugees, who settled in the city in the late sixteenth century, first manufacturing bays and says. The revocation of the Edict of Nantes brought over a new wave of the settlers, who in the 1680s and '90s injected fresh energy into the silk industry and brought it to new prominence."
No. 54 appears to be identical with this seal:- CAN / TERB(V) / fleur-di-lis RI fleur-di-lis / fleur-di-lis TP ligature fleur-di-lis but more complete with the V and second and fourth fleur-di-lis clearly visible. To my eye the fleur-di-lis look more like cross formy both here and on No.54 Fig.18. That seal is attributed to the Commonwealth-period.