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SEAL
Unique ID: SWYOR-D8E743
Object type certainty: Certain
Workflow
status: Awaiting validation 
A rectangular, lead alloy seal, probably dating from the Post-Medieval period, AD 1500 - 1800. It is uniface, the underside being blank. The upper side is impressed with a rectangular cartouche within which is a design in relief, possibly a merchant's mark, now somewhat abraded. The design appears to consist of an openwork trefoil of two large and one smaller loops located in one corner of the rectangle with a single short line extending diagonally across the rectangle from between the two larger loops. This short line has a loop projecting on the right (like a letter P) and at the end of the stem is a transverse zigzag line. One end of the seal has broken or abraded away, showing that it consists of two thin layers squeezed together.
The seal is 22.9mm long, 18.9mm wide and 3.4mm thick. It weighs 8.02gm.
Stuart Elton of the Bag Seal Gallery kindly adds:
"I believe this is either a 'warper's' or a weaver's tubular seal from the Norwich (from its find location) Dutch immigrant 'new drapery' manufacturing community. They were used for quality control purposes during the manufacture of bays.
See Allison, K.J., 1955, The Wool Supply and the Worsted Cloth Industry in Norfolk in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries. PhD thesis, University of Leeds, p.503-505."
Subsequent actions
Subsequent action after recording: Returned to finder
Chronology
Broad period: POST MEDIEVAL
Subperiod from: Early
Period from: POST MEDIEVAL
Subperiod to: Late
Period to: POST MEDIEVAL
Date from: Circa AD 1500
Date to: Circa AD 1800
Dimensions and weight
Quantity: 1
Length: 22.9 mm
Width: 18.9 mm
Thickness: 3.4 mm
Weight: 8.02 g
Discovery dates
Date(s) of discovery: Saturday 15th August 2015 - Sunday 16th August 2015
Rally details.
This object was found at Wymondam rally 2015
Personal details
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Materials and construction
Spatial metadata
Region: Eastern (European Region)County or Unitary authority: Norfolk (County)
District: South Norfolk (District)
Parish or ward: Wymondham (Civil Parish)
Spatial coordinates
4 Figure: TG1203
Four figure Latitude: 52.58345331
Four figure longitude: 1.12782579
1:25K map: TG1203
1:10K map: TG10SW
Grid reference source: GPS (from the finder)
Unmasked grid reference accurate to a 1 metre square.
References cited
No references cited so far.
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Timeline of associated dates
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