Cloth Seal, French, Lyon, Image by StuE, Found by Nasher.
Found near Baldock, Hertfordshire, 12mm, 3.4g.
Shield bearing LYON above a lion passant, B to right, 16 below left // shield bearing a lion passant, in chief three fleur-de-lis - the arms of the City of Lyon. Both sides have the remains of a square chain border.
See No.300 Fig.39, Geoff Egan , 'Lead cloth seals and related items in the B.M.' (B.M.occ.papers 93), "crown over shield with three fleur-de-lis, square chain border // shield with lion rampant [No.300 actually shows lion passant, the lion on this seal is intermediate but the standard arms of Lyon shows it rampant], a chief with three fleur-de-lis, Doann.. above, DELY... below, foliate border ... these customs seals (Douanne de Lyon) are attributed by Sabatier to the reigns of Louis XV and XVI (1715-89)."
More from Egan, "One-part custom seals for bales of exported silk. Legislation in 1540 (article XI) describes seals of this kind with the royal arms and those of the city as pieces a une cordette from the way they were secured with a white cord."
See DL38 (a or b), p.39, Les Plombs de Scelle La Douanne de Lyon, Daniel Slowik, 2014, for another example of this type.
