Cloth Seal, Norwich, Alnage, Four-Disc

Cloth Seal, Norwich, Alnage, Four-Disc, Image & Held by Mike Patrick.
Purchased from Ebay (British), Total Length 23mm.

Blank // 1.6 / 8.1, N O R W I C H . around // crown // blank

A complete four-part alnage seal, from the reign of Charles II*, showing a date at the centre, the 8 being uncertain but this is the only type of four-part seal recorded for Norwich, which is most unusual considering the number of two-part seals that have been found for the city.

See seal 1388, p.197, 2216 in Provenanced Leaden Cloth Seals by Geoffrey Egan, Sub-Department of Medieval Archaeology, University College, University of London submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, 1987.

*The figure 8 on this seal and the other preceding examples on this Gallery page (use the 'previous' button below) is flattened at the top. There existed a convention to depict the number 4 by drawing half of the figure 8, which would make this date 1641 and therefore from the reign of Charles I. See fig.50 p.197 (Egan, ibid) for a King's Lyn seal with the same half 8.