Cloth Seal, County Alnage, Image by StuE, Found by Sue Clark.
Found in North Essex.
A two disc seal showing a portcullis with chain loop to sides and on the reverse the Roman numerals (X?)XVI but this could well be fragmentary.
See:- PROVENANCED LEADEN CLOTH SEALS by GEOFFREY EGAN, Sub-Department of Medieval Archaelogy, University College, University of London. submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, 1987, "The most common later 16th-century county stamps have a crown over a portcullis, with Lombardic- or Roman-letter legends (fig. 13A & B). The other side sometimes has Roman numerals for the weight in pounds of the cloth, or an alnage-officer's privy mark. The portcullis stamp often appears alone. This series may well have originated in the early 16th century,"
A county alnage seal attached to a length of cloth weighing 26lbs. They are believed to have originated in the sixteenth century and may have continued into the early years of the reign of James I.
