Cloth Seal, Company, Royal Adventurers Trading to Africa

Cloth Seal, Company, Royal Adventurers Trading to Africa, Image & Found by Macduff2007.
Found on Thames Foreshore near Waterloo, 36mm.

Missing // an elephant and castle, on a canton the reduced arms of Tudor England; crest above, supporters two natives, Two rosettes (T)HE:COMPANY:OF:ROYALI:ADVENTURERS around // missing // missing

A large inner disc from a four disc cloth seal for the Company of Royal Adventurers Trading to Africa. The missing inner disc would show a large DV ligature at the centre with the remainder of the inscription from the front of the seal, two rosettes OF.ENGLAND.TRADEING.TO.AFFRICA around. The DV ligature is thought to stand for Deo Volente (God Willing).

See No.291, Fig38, Geoff Egan, Lead Cloth Seals and Related Items in the British Museum. The company using this particular name seems only to have been in existence from1661 to 1672 by which time it was bankrupt and the new Royal Africa Company was established.