Cloth Seal, Dutch, Haarlem, Image & Found by James Crombie.
Found in England, 33 x 27mm.
Two disc cloth seal with G E / TWYNT in two straight lines above a shield bearing the arms of the city of Haarlem with HAER(LEMS) (GOET?) inscription around. The riveted side shows 18 1/2 at the centre of an annulus of pellets containing stars and diamonds.
GETWYNT means spun particularly spinning several yarns together to make a multi-ply thread. The number 18 1/2 is the length of the cloth in ells (see below*).
See No.321 Fig.43, Geoff Egan, 'Lead cloth seals and related items in the B.M. (B.M.occ.papers 93)':-
"Seventeenth-century. The arms are those of the city (the cross is patee in most versions), and the figure is for the measured length of the piece in Dutch ells. The full stamp with the arms would have had the surrounding legend HAERLEMS GOET ('goods from Haarlem'). Haarlem's fine linen (known in England as 'holland') is widely represented by finds of seals with a variety of stamps."
Information below kindly supplied by Martijn Schaftenaar:-
Haarlem was famous because of her bleaching-fields and companies that bleached linen / cloth. Between 1580 and 1585 a lot of Flemish weavers moved to Haarlem. The expansion of the cloth industry meant that there was not enough space for sufficient bleaching-fields in Flanders. Some of the cloth was sent to Brabant for bleaching (Brabant is a Dutch province bound to Flanders), but most of the cloth was sent to the province Holland (now the provinces North- and South-Holland), especially to Haarlem, were it was bleached in the fields behind the dunes (the so-called ‘geestgronden’: a particular type of soil, a mixture of sand and clay. The field where nowadays bulbs such as tulips, hyacinths, daffodils, etc. are grown. The fields at the edge of the dunes delivered an abundant amount of pure water and the livestock breeding and dairy farming / processing produced a ready supply of buttermilk, both of which were necessary in the bleaching process. Afterwards the linen was finished in Haarlem. In the 16th century a large amount of cloth that was produced in Flanders, was sold as produced in Haarlem (labelled ‘Haerlems goet’). The immigration of Flemish weavers stimulated the cloth industry (linen) in Haarlem even more. Around 1610 about 44000 cloth were produced. Halfway through the 17th century the production decreased because of high costs. In the heyday Haarlem not only produced linen but also luxury cloth like damask.
Source: Houte, J.A.; 1979. Economische geschiedenis van de lage landen 800- 1800. Fibua-van Dishoeck, Haarlem
Eng. (Houte, J.A.; 1979. Economical history of the Low countries 800- 1800. Fibua-van Dishoeck, Haarlem)
Heraldic weapon of Haarlem: Harlem's sword.
It looks a bit like the heraldic weapon of Gouda.
*At the front of your cloth seal you see the weapon of Haarlem and the text ‘Getwynt’ (and the name of the place Haarlem). ‘Getwynt’ (in modern Dutch: getwijnt (from the verb twijnen), English twisting). Twijnen/ Twisting means that two or more single (twisted) yarns were twisted together to a thicker yarn. By spinning the twisted yarns a bigger and stronger yarn is formed, than when only a single yarn is produced. The process is also used to give special effects to the cloth, for instance by using different coloured yarn or yarns with different structures.
Source: Baan de, E. Goed garen. Rijswijk: Uitgeverij Goossens. Leiden: Museum De Lakenhal
*At the back of the cloth seal you see a number, which might give the length or width of the cloth (in ells, this unit of length differs in different areas, see the copied information from Wikipedia below).
Amsterdamse el = 68,8 cm
Brabantse el = 69,2 cm of 16 tailles
Delfsche el = 68,2 cm
Goesche el = 69 cm
Haagse of gewone el = 69,4 cm
Twentse el = 58,7 cm
Wase el = 69,8 cm in winkels 72,8 cm stof 76,5 cm ruwe stof
Dendermondse el = 69,6 cm in winkels 73,1 cm in de Halle
Source: http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_(lengtemaat)