Cloth Seal, Clothier's Seal, Tiverton, Wood & Carswell, Image & Found by Danny Ronda.
Found in moved excavation top soil from the centre of Amsterdam, 22mm.
21 1/2 // crown over two vertical hearts, WOOD & CARSWEL.OF.TIVERTON around
Similar seals showing one heart beneath a crown with T C to sides for Thomas Carswell are known (Fig 2.17, p.397, Peter Maunder, Tiverton Cloth, The Story of the Town’s Woollen Trade 1475 – 1815.)
No seals are known for Wood but several of that name were connected to the Tiverton cloth industry. The most likely one is William Wood ("a wealthy clothier", and a member of Tiveton town's Corporation, p.104).
From Peter Maunder, "I was not aware that a partnership existed between William Wood and Thomas Carswell, but this seal shows us that it did.
William Wood of Tiverton, merchant died on 21 April 1684. He is recorded as an exporter in the port books regularly from 1680 to 1683.
William Wood was succeeded in his business by his nephew, also called William Wood*.
In his will, William Wood the uncle says:
'I charge my nephew William Wood to be dutiful and obedient to my wife and be diligent and careful in assisting his aunt in getting in my debts.'
From this, I infer that William Wood the nephew, had been apprenticed to his uncle as a merchant in the serge trade.
There are a couple of isolated entries in the port books for 1684 and 1685 which presumably relate to the nephew exporting consignments of serge left from his uncle's estate.
There is no entry for William Wood in the 1686 port book. The 1687 book does not survive.
On 1 February 1688, 'William Wood & Co' exports serge to Rotterdam and Bruges. Thereafter, they are regular exporters of serge to the Holland and Flanders, the majority of port book entries giving William Wood & Co (although occasionally they say William Wood without the '& Co'). This continues to the end of the 1690 port book.
The next surviving port book is for 1694. In that, William Wood appears on 4 January 1694 on his own. Thomas Carswell first appears in the same port book, 1694, on 27 June 1694.
They are both regular serge exporters thereafter.
Both Carswell and Wood got into financial trouble in around 1700. The last entry in the port books for Carswell is 23 December 1699 and for Wood is 25 Oct 1701. The 1700 port book does not survive, and Carswell does not appear in the 1701 port book.
In summary, the evidence of this seal shows that William Wood and Thomas Carswell were in partnership for a few years from about 1687. This partnership was terminated at some time between 1691 and 1693, after which the two men traded independently. The newly found seal therefore must date from between 1687 and 1693.
This seal is an exciting new find.
*The port books show William Wood as a serge exporter from 1680 to 1688 and again from 1694 to 1700"
This also appears to be the earliest seal known from this series to display the Tiverton name on it [personal communication from Jane Evans].
The fullest collection of Tiverton cloth seals (about thirty) is on permanent display in Tiverton Museum.