Cloth Seal, Clothier's Seal, Leeds, Stars on Shield
Cloth Seal, Stars on Shield, Image by StuE, Found by Mrs George Angel Eyes Clooney.
Found in Yorkshire, 28mm, 13.4g.
Shield bearing in chief three 5 pointed stars (mullets) // two lines scratched with numbers? above and below
Three 5 pointed stars underlined on a shield (Possibly coat of arms of Leeds City minus the traditional fleece)
The other side appears to have a line scratched top and bottom with more scratches (possibly figures) above and below these lines leaving the centre free.
There is a significant quantity of brown woven cloth still present within this seal, probably wool.
"In 1662, after the Restoration of Charles II, the chief inhabitants of Leeds petitioned for a new charter, this being granted by the King on 2 November of that year. By this charter the chief citizen became a mayor, and the person elected as first Mayor was Thomas Danby, whose arms were: argent, three chevrons braced sable, on a chief sable, three mullets argent. So to the 1626 Leeds arms were added the chief sable three mullets argent (silver stars). It was said by the late Sir W.H. St John Hope "that the townsfolk devised for themselves a pretty and most appropriate shield of arms". But the arms were not settled until 1836, when the Corporation was reconstituted under the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, and on the Borough Seal the full insignia of shield, crest, supporters, and the Motto "Pro Rege et Lege" were engraved." From Leeds Civic Trust.