Cloth Seal, Searcher, Rectangular-type, Named, John Collier

Cloth Seal, Searcher's Seal, Rectangular-type, Named, John Collier, Image by Derfel Found by Peter Olivant.
Found on the Thames foreshore, 32 x 26mm.

JOHN / COLLIER / SEARCHED(HE ligatured) / pellets // missing but rivet stub stamped with ...T and down stroke of a number incuse both in stitched line boxes.

A rectangular searcher's seal from a series of similar shaped seals. See Geoff Egan, No.244 Fig.33, Lead cloth seals and related items in the B.M. (B.M.occ.papers 93), "This belongs to a series of seals with rectangular parts, all having the full name of the searcher on one side, and on the other a proforma stamp for length, weight and width ('long, waight, size') of the particular textile ... The figures were added after examination of the piece. ... See Baart et al 1977, 118-9 no, 71 for a dimension stamp on a seal of this kind found in Amsterdam in a deposit dated to c.1575-c.1650."

See PAS LON-394D97 for a parallel and BSG.CS.00892 for a complete example of this type of seal.