Cloth Seal, Colchester Dutch Community Seal, Crown Bay, 1571 onward, Alnage Counter Stamp
Cloth Seal, Colchester Dutch Community Seal, Crown Bay, 1571 onward, Alnage Counter Stamp Image by Derfel, Found by Peter Olivant.
Found on the Thames Foreshore, 50mm.
Ornate shield bearing the three coronets of Colchester, 15 71 to sides, DYV...71. around, partial over stamp bottom left crowned thistle I R to sides // missing but double rivet stubs with traces of a stamp and cloth weave impression on reverse of rivet disc (15 threads per 10mm?)
See Fig.13 Endrei, W. and Egan, G. 1982. ‘The sealing of cloth in Europe, with special reference to the English evidence’, Textile History, 13, 47-75. "Seal for a crown bay cloth made by the Dutch in Colchester. Probably 17th century. 1571 to sides of a version of the Colchester arms, .... COLCHESTER 100 * CR(ONE). ... The arrival in Colchester in 1570 of a group of Dutch refugees, including a number of textile workers, provided a decisive impetus for the manufacture of bays and says there. This important industry is represented by seals recovered in Bristol, from a wreck off the Cornish coast, in Amsterdam, especially in London, and there is a probable example found in York. It was claimed in 1633 that over £3,000 worth of these Colchester fabrics were sent to London each week, and even when the industry was in decline at the end of the 17th century, over a thousand bay cloths were still manufactured there weekly. The seals used by the Dutch at their Bay Hall in the town were two-lobed, with a diameter of between 30 and 50 mm. Several different designs are known, some of which (perhaps the ones used by first generation settlers) have a legend in Dutch. The most usual design, many varieties of which have been recorded, has a version of the Colchester coat of arms (a cross raguly and three coronets) on one lobe, with a griffin on the other. Seals for 'crown bay' are the most common of these, and for this brand of cloth the cross was omitted from the arms, leaving the coronets as a reference to the fabric's name (Fig. 13). 'Cross bay', the best quality of cloth manufactured in Colchester according to Morant, had seals on which the full arms are depicted; the cross is also included on seals for say cloths. All the seals used by the Dutch in Colchester are dated 1571 (the year in which their industry seems to have been established on a proper footing), though they continued in use well into the next century."
Of particular interest on this seal is the secondary stamp where the alnager has made use of the existing large lead seal rather than adding his own. Either James I or II as the Dutch weavers continued to exist as a separate organisation up until 1728.
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