Medieval Lead Bag and Tax Seal Group

14TH CENTURY A.D. AND LATER

3/4 - 1 1/4 in. (35.5 grams total, 18-32 mm).

One bearing the bust of a crowned monarch; one with GW over a madder-bag, showing that he was a dyer; one with partial legend within beaded border to one face and coat of arms to the other; one with partial legend 'THE [COMMON WEA]LTH' and arms of the Commonwealth (1649-
1660); one bearing a cloth-worker's privy mark. [5, No Reserve]

Provenance

Acquired on the UK market, 1990s.
Property of a retired academic.

Literature

See Stuart F. Elton, Cloth Seals. An illustrated reference guide to the identification of lead seals attached to cloth, Oxford, 2017; see also Elton, pp.157-9, for Commonwealth seals.

Footnotes

Elton explains (p.269) that though similar in shape to a wool-sack, the madder-bag 'has a series of criss-crossing lines representing the cordage holding its contents in place during the vigorous dyeing process'.

CONDITION

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LOT 1665