Cloth Seal, Searcher, Proforma-type, Image & Found by London Mudlark.
Found on the Thames foreshore.
One part of a two part sub-rectangular, spade-shaped searchers / alnage seal showing (X?)VII / SEA / RCH / ED // rivet head markings cannot be made out with certainty (E?).
See Geoff Egan, No.117 Fig.26, 'Lead cloth seals and related items in the B.M. (B.M.occ.papers 93)' from which the following quotation is taken:-
"These are a distinct series of proforma seals, cast with standard specifications for different kinds of cloth and with space next to these for an alnager's or searcher's stamp, to confirm that from examination the textile was indeed as the regulations required. The engraving for the Roman numbers is frequently of a very poor standard, and they often come out retrograde. Secondary stamps on seals of this kind include some with a crown over portcullis(at least one from Yorkshire) likely to be from the reign of Elizabeth I, ..... In Addition to London finds, seals of the present series have been recovered in Norfolk and Amsterdam. The series can be dated to the late sixteenth century and perhaps the first years of the seventeenth century."
