Rights Holder: The Portable Antiquities Scheme
CC License:
Our images can be used under a CC BY attribution licence (unless stated otherwise).
Unique ID: IOW-DEE81C
Object type certainty: Certain
Workflow
status: Awaiting validation
An incomplete post-Medieval lead cloth seal from the city of Augsburg, Germany (c. 1500-c. 1625).
A two part seal:
Disc 1: A pine cone, the heraldic badge of the city of Augsburg. A trefoil is situated at each side of the pine cone.
Disc 2: Largely missing. The stub of the rivet has an ornate initial letter A representing the place name.
The joining strip is incomplete.
The seal is grey and has traces of a buff patina.
Length: 23.4mm; width: 19.1mm; thickness: 3.4mm. Weight: 5.34g.
Seals from the fustians (mixed linen-warp and cotton weft fabrics) of Augsburg, known to contemporaries in this country as "Ousbrow or Augusta fustians", are among the most common and widespread of all recorded imports in England.
For analogies see Egan, G. 1994. Lead Cloth Seals and related Items in the British Museum. 106, fig. 41, 308-310. London: British Museum. See also Egan, G. in Saunders, P (ed). 2001. Salisbury & South Wiltshire Museum Medieval Catalogue, Part 3, 70, fig. 26, 150. Salisbury: Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum.
Lead seals were put on commercially produced cloths as part of a complicated system of industrial regulation, known in England as alnage, under which quality control and the levying of tax of a few pence per newly manufactured cloth was administered until 1724 (Egan, G. 1994).
Egan, G. 2001. Cloth Seals in Salisbury Museum Medieval Catalogue, vol. 3.
Egan, G. 1994. Lead cloth seals and related items in the British Museum. Occasional Paper 93. The British Museum Press: London.
Current location of find: Finder
Subsequent action after recording: Returned to finder
Broad period: POST MEDIEVAL
Subperiod from: Early
Period from: POST MEDIEVAL
Subperiod to: Early
Period to: POST MEDIEVAL
Date from: Circa AD 1500
Date to: Circa AD 1625
Quantity: 1
Length: 23.4 mm
Width: 19.1 mm
Thickness: 3.4 mm
Weight: 5.34 g
Date(s) of discovery: Wednesday 4th February 2015 - Wednesday 4th February 2015
This information is restricted for your access level.
Other reference: IOW2015-3-11
Grid reference source: GPS (from the finder)
Unmasked grid reference accurate to a 1 metre square.
Author | Publication Year | Title | Publication Place | Publisher | Pages | Reference | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Egan, G. | 1994 | Lead cloth seals and related items in the British Museum | London | Department of Medieval and Later Antiquities, British Museum | 106, fig. 41 | 308-310 |