Cloth Seal, Coat of Arms, Joseph Alston

Crescent & Star Seal, Joseph Alston, Image & Found by Archer.
Found in Brighton.

(with the help of another seal) Shield bearing ten mullets in four rows - 4 / 3 / 2 / 1, crescent above with and A to right, upside down to left of shield E(D?) / 2 // no decipherable markings

"Looks to be stars in a shield with a crescent and star above. Could be an Islamic connection or perhaps with the arms of Portsmouth. There is some text seemingly on a different alignment to the shield but I cannot determine what it says. Found in Brighton on a site that produces Roman through to modern."

A good match has been found for these arms by Michael Yeti Yates, "I think it could be a merchants seal prehaps for Joseph Alston . With the link you gave me on facebook and the other one on your website found by mudlark,you can get the initials I and maybe an A from the pair either side of crescent hence James Alston. The Alston arms are the same as the seals and with the cadency of this branch you get a crescent and star above the shield. Joseph moved to Chelsea London and married the daughter and coheir of a Mr Crookenberg a Dutch merchant with whom he got the large sum of twelve grand. One link I did find says he was a successful merchant businessman."
See Landed families of Britain and Ireland and THE KINGS CANDLESTICKS: Family Tree's and A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies of England, Ireland and Scotland, John Burke, Sir Bernard Burke, Scott, Webster, and Geary, 1841.