Cloth Seal, Dutch, Leiden, Crowned Shield, Saltire Keys, @
Cloth Seal, Dutch, Leiden, Crowned Shield, Saltire Keys, @, Image & Found by Vladimer Budko.
Found 50km south of Moscow, Russia, 37mm.
@ / 50, husk border around // ornate shield bearing keys in saltire, crown above, (L)EYDENINHOLLANDT around
The @ symbol is first mentioned in a measurement gauge context in a document dated 1536 concerned with the size of amphorae. There are many more examples of Leiden seals showing this @ sign above a length, all using the same letter type. In Leiden Museum they have seal matrices for these types of cloth seals. [p.312, Elton, S., Cloth Seals, Archaeopress 2017]
There are several similar seals in Geoff Egan's 'Lead Cloth Seals and Related Items in the British Museum' B.M. Occasional Paper 93. None match this one exactly but as it has the name and coat of arms of the city there is little doubt that it is a cloth seal from Leiden. Geoff gives some interesting information about such seals on page 110:-
"Leiden's important and varied textile industry is widely represented by finds of seals in England and on the Continent. [And North America] In the 1660s its products undercut the prices for similar English fabrics in this country. Leiden's Lakenhal (cloth hall) Museum has an extensive collection of items relating to the sealing of cloths which took place there."
See also oude @, groot lood, Bodemvondstenwereld for a different 76 example.
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