Cloth Seal, Sun / Star, Image & Found by Lobo Man.
Found in Bedfordshire, 20mm.
A two disc cloth seal showing star or sun with curved rays, trace of ornate border on connecting strip // blank but both sides are heavily patterned from compression against a cloth's woven threads.
Only one side of the sun / star is discernible and therefore could possibly dimidiated and co-joined with a rose as was known from 1470 onwards. If it is just a sun then the die for such a seal with a kings head on the other side is known, see p.33, Provenanced Leaden Cloth Seals by Geoffrey Egan, Sub-Department of Medieval Archaeology, University College, University of London. submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, 1987, also see p.172, "A glossy surface could be given to worsted fabrics by calendering, or by the use of the hot press - which was legalised under James I after half a century of proscription (Allison 1961,70 & 72). A Hotpressers' Company was incorporated in Norwich in 1682 (Priestley 1985,194; cf. Allison 1961,72, where the date is given as 1683). Some Norfolk seals (e. g. nos. 2354 & 2731) have the imprint of a fabric on their outer surface - this is probably the result of calendering, or pressing, when the textile was folded over the seal."
