Cloth Seal, Searchers'/Alnage, Proforma-type, Image & Found by Sukisal.
"It was found at Lavenham. The size of the actual shield part is: 23.5mm x 18mm. The back seal arm (not sure what to call it) 14.5mm ring part and length is about 26mm. It weighs 7.4gm."
A two part rectangular, spade-shaped searchers / alnage seal with the cast Roman numerals XXI above XVII. The searcher’s stamp mark is on the reverse but indistinct.
See Geoff Egan, No.117 Fig.26, 'Lead cloth seals and related items in the B.M. (B.M.occ.papers 93)' from which the following quotation is taken:-
"These are a distinct series of proforma seals, cast with standard specifications for different kinds of cloth and with space next to these for an alnager's or searcher's stamp, to confirm that from examination the textile was indeed as the regulations required. The engraving for the Roman numbers is frequently of a very poor standard, and they often come out retrograde. Secondary stamps on seals of this kind include some with a crown over portcullis(at least one from Yorkshire) likely to be from the reign of Elizabeth I, ..... In Addition to London finds, seals of the present series have been recovered in Norfolk and Amsterdam [and now Suffolk!]. The series can be dated to the late sixteenth century and perhaps the first years of the seventeenth century."
