Cloth Seal, Clothier's Seal, Tiverton, Ben Dickinson / Sam Burridge

Cloth Seal, Clothier's Seal, Tiverton, Ben Dickinson / Sam Burridge, Image & Found by Martijn van Gerven.
Found Amsterdam, Netherlands, 25mm, 9g.

22 / GO, B(ENJ;)DICKENSON.TIVERTON. around // privy mark of 4 with extended vertical crossed with a foot and S F to sides of base, (SA)M BU(RRIDGE.TI)VERTON. around

This is a cloth seal from Tiverton in Devon. Evans Type 4.5.2.*. The large amount of Tiverton serge produced was almost entirely exported to the Continent where many cloth seals have been recovered, mostly bearing the distinctive 4 impaled foot privy mark of Samuel Foote.

*A helpful classification system for these seals, devised by Jane Evans, can be found as an appendix to Peter Maunder’s comprehensive history of the Tiverton cloth trade. See p.407 and 404 fig.6 nos.60-63.

The fullest collection of Tiverton cloth seals (about thirty) is on permanent display in Tiverton Museum.