Cloth Seal, William III, Alnage, Rose, RWR

Cloth Seal, William III, Alnage, Rose, RWR, Image by StuE, Found by Nasher.
Found near Baldock, Hertfordshire, 14 x 33mm, 6.4g.

Blank // bust facing right OF ENG LAND around // double rose .1. // (crowned) RWR ligature

Complete four disc alnage seal from the reign of William III showing his ubiquitous royal monogram with the retrograde R and also featuring his hook nose. It has been proposed that the seal engravers utilised old dies from Charles and James II, with their standard portraits, by the simple expedient of enlarging the nose! see p.35, G. Egan, Alnage Seals and the National Coinage – Some parallels in Design, British Numismatic Journal 61, 1991, p.31-36, pl. 4-5.