Cloth Seal, Company, 1711 - 1853, South Seas & Fisheries

Cloth Seal, South Seas & Fisheries Company, Image & Found by Lucho.
Found at Terminal Port, Portobelo, Panama, 37mm X 53mm.

Blank (partially missing) // wheel-like, radiating motif with + in centre, and crown S S & F C around in the outer ring // arms of South Seas & Fisheries Company, S S (& E C) around // blank

See Geoff Egan, M.12 Fig.48 'Lead cloth seals and related items in the B.M.' (B.M.occ.papers 93), "The company was founded in 1711 to trade with Spanish America. Although it sold off most of its trading rights in 1750 the Company lasted until 1853.... The London finds are presumably accidental losses from cloths being dyed at the side of the Thames for the Company prior to export .... Other seals for this Company have been found in Texas and Tierra del Fuego..."

See also figure 2.11 Egan, G., 1991, Industry and Economics on the Medieval and later London Waterfront. In G.L. Good et al. (eds.), Waterfront Archaeology, Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Waterfront Archaeology held at Bristol 23-26 September 1988 (Council for British Archaeology Research Report 74), 9-18.

Michel Royer has shown that the initials are often SS&EC rather than SS&FC possibly standing for the 'Encouragement of fishing' as in the official title of the company. See Euro-Plombs.