BSG.CS.01750 — Cloth Seal, Clothier's Seal, Tiverton, Henry Blagdon

Purchased from Amsterdam, Netherlands, 20mm.

RE / 22 / GO // clover leaf R E to sides, (HEN)RY + BLAG(DON) around

Most of the edge is missing from this seal.

From Mike Patrick, "To quote from Peter's book: "In 1708 Henry Blagdon was joined in business by his uncle George Thorne who had left the Burridge company. The Blagdon coat of arms included the trefoil or fleur-de-lis, from which the clover symbol on his stamp was derived. 'Henry Blagdon Clover' stamps continued in use by other merchants, including George Lewis and William Smale and probably by George Osmond and Oliver Peard, to mark a particular grade of cloth. The clover outline is usually infilled with granules. I think that the photo I attach shows confirms the link with George Osmond (and possibly Richard Enchmarch) but is of a design I hadn't seen before."

For this and other Tiverton seals see Michel Royer's Euro-Plombs.

The fullest collection of Tiverton cloth seals (about thirty) is on permanent display in Tiverton Museum.