Cloth Seal, Norwich, Russel Company, 1554 onward, Image & Found by Axel Vroling.
Found near Enkhuizen, Netherlands, 20mm, 5.2g.
FIDE / LITAS / ARTE(S) / (ALIT) // arms of Norwich, Castle with three towers (lion passant below)
See No.80 Fig.21 in Geoff Egan's 'Lead Cloth Seals and Related Items in the British Museum' - "three-towered castle with lion passant below (arms of Norwich) ... The motto fidelitas artes alit ('confidence [sc. in the workmanship and / or the product] fosters the craft') is that of the Norwich Russel Company, which was incorporated in 1554. ... The manufacture of russels in Norwich, mentioned by Roberts in 1700, had apparently ended by 1723."
"Norwich Russel-Company seals:
These all have: castle, lion passant below [arms of Norwich] // FIDE/LITAS/ARTES/ALIT
Another example was excavated in Amsterdam from a context dated to 1575 - 1650 (Baart 1977,121 no. 79).
The legend 'fidelitas artes alit' ('reliability fosters skill' seems to be the general meaning - presumably a reference to the quality of the textiles) is known from a contemporary source to be that of the Russel Company (Roberts 1677,291, & 1700 appendix p7).
The Russel Company was incorporated in 1554-5 (Statue 1&2 Phil. & M. c. 14). The seal-stamp designs for russels, as discussed in 1578 (Moens 1887,77), are not known. Although the
manufacture of russels had apparently ceased by 1723 (U. Priestley, pers. comm. ), the reference in 1700 implies that they were still being sealed at that date. Perhaps russel seals ceased to be used in 1705, when the city's civic textile sealing ceased (Corfield 1972,284)." [p.192, Geoffrey Egan, Leaden Cloth Seals, Sub-Department of Medieval Archaeology, University College, University of London. submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, 1987.]
