2 X Cloth Seals, Alnage Armorial, Anne, Image & Found by Lucho.
Complete one 37mm X 51mm, both found at a Portobello market in Panama by Luis Gonzalez.
Complete four disc armorial alnage seal where discs 2 and 3 are much larger, almost 40mm in diameter, than the attachment discs 1 and 4. And another armorial seal discs 3 and 4 only.
Complete seal - Arms of post Union Britain, Garter with motto HONI SOIT QVI MAL Y PENSE around, surmounted by crowned helmet having lion passant on, with mantling, and supported by lion and unicorn. // Crown over triple rose, flowering plant motifs to sides. (from Geoff Egan,Lead cloth seals and related items in the British Museum, Nos.196 & 197 Fig.28 are from identical seals to this one.)
Incomplete seal - Royal Arms of England with the Union of the Crowns, Garter with motto HONI SOIT QVI MAL Y PENSE around, surmounted by crowned helmet having lion passant on, with mantling, and supported by lion and unicorn.
It is not known why this type was used instead of the more common small four disc alnage seal but the size, national arms and traces of gilding found on many of them suggest they were used for cloth shipments with a greater value of some kind. They were in use from the reign of Elizabeth I to that of George I, Geoff Egan,'Lead cloth seals and related items in the B.M. (B.M.occ.papers 93)'.
The missing disc 3 of the partial seal is likely to have had the same design on as that shown on disc 3 of the complete seal, i.e. a large crowned rose.
Interestingly the different versions of the national arms shown on the separate disc 2’s allow us to date the complete seal (left) to the end of Queen Anne’s reign, 1707 – 1714 as it shows the arms for the Kingdom of Great Britain after the union with Scotland in 1707, easily recognisable on this seal from the three distinct fleur-de-lis in the second quarter, whereas the partial seal is from the first part of Anne’s reign from 1702 – 1707 as it displays the final version of the Royal Arms of England with the Union of the Crowns of England, Ireland and Scotland and the Scottish lion clearly visible in the second quarter.
