Cloth Seal, French, Benoist-Héry, Orleans, Yarn Seal
Cloth Seal, French, Benoist-Héry, Orleans, Yarn Seal, Image & Found by Julian Spybey.
Found in ?, ?mm.
D'ORLEANS curved down / A (2) / FILS // BENOIST / PRYVE*
*was originally thought to be HERY VX but see Paul Cannon's comment below which Michel Royer now agrees with.
Identified by Philippe Lanez, "This is a French yarn an hosiery seal for Mr. Benoist-Héry, the elder, in Orléans, on river Loire.
One side reads BENOIST HERY VX. « VX » is a short form standing for « le Vieux », the elder.
The other side reads D'ORLEANS, curving downwards, around A and ?, and FILS on a straight line. Here, we have to read « Fils d'Orléans » yarns from Orléans, not to be confused with « fils » as SON.
Wool industry development took place at the middle of the eighteenth century with activity hosiery (bonnets and gloves) and employs more than 10,000 workers in the villages close to the city.
Mr. Benoist-Héry, the elder, had created, circa 1770, in Orléans a very important hosiery factory employing 800 then 1200 people, bringing together at the same site carders, spinners, weavers, fullers and dyers.
The Benoist Héry hosiery became a royal manufactory in 1774.
Another royal manufactory also exited in 1758, that produced royal Turkish hats, in the style of Tunis, for exporting to the Maghreb and the Levant. They merged in 1785, under the control of his two sons, Nicolas and Guillaume."
From Michel Royer, "It must read in the center 'A 2 / FILS' which is a weaving method (for France, only the sale according to the method with 3 threads was authorized, the method with 2 threads was intended for abroad). For the owner there was a hosier by the name of Benoit Hery in Orleans (general almanch of merchants, merchants and merchants ..... of 1772) . The legend is probably 'BENOIST / HERY & COMP.' "
