Cloth Seal, Dorset, Alnage

Cloth Seal, Alnage, Dorset, Image & Found by Ossie.
Found in Dorset, 35 x 18mm, 7.3g.

Blank // •*•, DORSET•77• around, in annulet border // lion couchant, fleur-de-lis above all in rope, line and annulet triple border // blank

Complete 4 disc alnage seal. The first inner disc has a circle outer border with an inner one of annulets with DORSET curved downward inside this and the number 77 straight across beneath with two pellets above and one each side. In the centre is a cinquefoil. The other inner disc has an outer ring of annulets, traces of a thin line circle and an inner rope circle. Inside this is a lion, probably couchant with a fleur-de-lis above. The rivet and rove discs are blank.

From a West Country series of four disc seals where the inner discs are lozenge-shaped and the outer, rivet and rove discs are round. A distinct border circle of annulets is also often present along with the last two numbers only of the year. As many of these can be attributed to the reign of Charles II then the century must be 1600. See No.128, Fig.26 Geoff Egan, 'Lead Cloth Seals and Related Items in the British Museum' Occasional Paper 93.