Cloth Seal, Armorial

Cloth Seal, Alnage Armorial, Image & Found by John GM.
Found on the Thames foreshore, Near Broken Wharf, 38mm dia.

Missing // crowned triple rose with stem and leaf decoration to the sides // missing // missing

An inner disc from a four-disc armorial seal - See No.197 Fig.28 Geoff Egan, 'Lead cloth seals and related items in the B.M.' (B.M.occ.papers 93), "crown over triple rose, flowering plant motifs to sides ....... A series of these seals, with inner discs c.40mm or just under in diameter, which are integrally cast with the devices (one with the arms of the realm and the other with a large, crowned rose), was in use from the reign of Elizabeth I to that of George I. The inner discs occasionally retain traces of gilding, which may well have originally been present on all these seals. The precise function of this series of large, well-produced seals, presumably issued as part of the alnage system, and its relation to the much commoner, smaller four-disc series remain enigmatic."

I believe it was not uncommon for attractive cloth seal discs to be carefully reworked for use as tokens or ornaments. See BSG.OS.00096 and BSG.OS.00010 for other examples of this happening. It is also known that the guilded ones were used as decorative medals by North American Indians, see p.177, Elton, 2017, Cloth Seals: An Illustrated Guide to the Identification of Lead Seals Attached to Cloth.

Probably from the reign of Anne, see BSG.CS.01511.