Cloth Seal, Cloth Worker's Personal Seal, Ligate WS, 1675~1825

Cloth Seal, Cloth Worker's Personal Seal, Initialled, Ligate WS, Image by StuE, Found by Nasher.
Found near Baldock, Hertfordshire, 20mm8.8g.

WS ligate // 21 / 55 scratched

Elaborate ligature most likely formed from an interwoven elongated W and S all in an ornate border. The scratched numbers represent the length and weight of the cloth in yards and pounds - in this case it is not easy to tell whether it is a short piece of very heavy cloth or a longer piece of relatively light weight cloth.

See Atkinson, F., 1956, Some aspects of the 18th Century Woollen and Worsted Trade in Halifax, p.20. Very similar mark to be put on a consignment of Bocking bays on the instruction of Samuel Hill, clothier of Halifax, January 1737.