Cloth Seal, Colchester Dutch Community Seal, Cross Bay, 1571 onward

Cloth Seal, Colchester Dutch Community Seal, 70 Cross Bay, 1571 onward, Image & Found by Kim Skerten.
Found on the Thames foreshore at Queenhithe, 38mm.

Griffin, (1571 DVYT)S BAYE.VAN.CO(LCE)S(TER) around // DUYT(S) / 70:CRUIS / BAYE VAN / (C)OLCESTER / 1571

This is a double riveted Colchester Dutch Community 70 cross bay seal. 1571 refers to the date when the Dutch immigrants formally set up their operation in Colchester and the date was used until they stopped being a separate entity in 1728. The 70 'CRUNS' refers to the quality and the animal on the other side is a griffin - commonly used by the Dutch weavers.

See 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, p.103 & Fig.24, p.104. "70-cross-bay seals: These have: DUYTS/70: CRUIS/BAYE VAN/COLCESTER/1571// (griffin), DVYTS ... (COLCE)STER around.
No. 539 has been published (fig. 7j in V. C. H. Essex 1907). The Dutch-language legend ('Dutch seventy cross bay of Colchester') presumably indicates first-generation immigrants. The precise significance of the 'seventy' is unknown, though it probably refers is some way to the number of warp threads (cf. '100 bay' 532 and '2300 say' seals, below). No. 532 may, instead of '70', have '100' for one hundred bay, though whether this is a crown- or a cross-bay seal is uncertain."