Cloth Seal, Searcher

Cloth Seal, EARCH XVII, Image & Found by Baza.
Found in Staffordshire.

"It does look like EARCK or the last letter could be an H but above it looks like NX something could be a Y or a V and below XV11."

(From another similar seal) SEARCHED clearly marked between parallel lines across the middle with Roman numerals above and below. Probably one disc of a two part seal. No.204, Fig.30, Geoff Egan, Lead Cloth Seals and Related Items in the British Museum, is a similar seal with SEARCHED broken over two lines but there are no other markings on that seal other than 53 crudely carved on the back. Despite its shape and the lack of any royal device (possibly on the missing riveted side) the cast Roman numerals on this seal tends to place it with the alnage type above rather than the personal searcher’s seal described as No.204 in Egan. Probably a seal used by agents of local guilds and other corporate bodies but there is no firm evidence for this clear division from an alnager's seal.