Cloth Seal, Dye Seal, London Dyers Company, In Grain

Cloth Seal, Dyer's Two-Part Seal, In Grain, Image & Found by Don Crawley.
Found in Norfolk, 22mm.

IN / GRAY / NE // WS above a madderbag

Madderbags are usually a symbol signifying the London Dyers' Company and these seals date to the 17th century. The GRAYNE or grain refers to the pellets that were the source of Kermes red dye. Thought originally to be grain or seeds from a tree, they are in fact sap-sucking scale insects. Kermes vermilio, that attached themselves to the leaves of trees.

See No.276, Fig.36, Geoff Egan, British Museum Occasional Paper 93, Lead Cloth Seals & Related Items in the British Museum, same In Grayne but a privy mark instead of the madderbag.