Lead cloth seals and bag seals: how to identify them

It looks like a flattened lead button with a rivet through it. It’s a seal, and it once hung on a bolt of cloth or a sack of flour.

Lead seals are common finds. Most can be put in the right century in a minute, and some can be pinned to a town and a year.

Cloth seal or bag seal?

Cloth seals were fixed to textiles. The Cloth and Bag Seal Identification Guide says they were used from the late 13th century to the mid 19th century. Wax was used too, but it was outlawed at the start of the 16th century.

Bag seals closed sacks. They’re usually of the bulla type, threaded on a cord. They weren’t common until the industrial revolution took hold in the 18th century, and lasted until the mid 20th century, when aluminium, plastics and printed packaging took over.

Why cloth was sealed

Geoff Egan’s 1987 thesis explains the system. Cloth was regulated by the alnage. For over four centuries, until 1724, alnagers enforced the standards for cloth. From at least 1353, they also collected a subsidy on it for the Crown. The seal was the proof.

Many seals are marked ‘searched’, meaning examined. They often carry figures for weight in pounds, and sometimes length in yards.

After 1724, other local arrangements took over. In Yorkshire, sealing was still required by a statute of 1765. Egan notes seals were apparently still used in the 1830s, and sealing was formally abolished in 1889.

Two-disc seals

The older type. Two discs are joined by a strip. It folds over the edge of the cloth, and a rivet on one disc passes through the cloth and the hole in the other. It was then struck between dies, much like a hammered coin.

Size varies a lot. In the British Museum collection, two-disc seals range from 2.125 g to 48 g. Most are between 15 and 25 mm across.

Four-disc seals

Four parts in a line. They appeared from the late 16th century. The inner discs were usually cast with designs; more were added when the outer rivet was stamped.

Egan’s key dating points:

• The earliest dated and provenanced four-disc seals belong to a series marked 1610 or 1611.
• From the 1610s, four-part alnage seals were used in most counties. Norfolk, and perhaps Lancashire and Worcestershire, seem to have kept two-disc seals into the post-Restoration period.
• Most later four-disc seals have discs of about 15 mm, slightly smaller than a typical two-disc seal. That size was the norm until 1724.
• Parts came in many shapes up to about 1682: lozenge, square, scalloped and star, as well as round.

Three-disc and six-disc seals are known too.

What to look for

Heraldry can mislead. Egan notes that on four-part seals the arms rarely carry their usual meaning. A harp appears on seals that have nothing to do with Ireland.

Flour bag seals

Bag seals are typically late 18th to early 20th century. Flour seals are the ones you’re most likely to name.

Look for a grade number. One record in Elton’s guide explains that flour was graded 00, 0, 1 and 2. 00 was the finest and whitest; 2 was almost wholemeal. So a 0 or 2 in the centre is a good clue to flour.

Look for a miller’s name and town. A seal recorded near Wetherby reads J.A. INGLEBY, TADCASTER, ROLLER MILLS on one side and SWAN WHITE FLOUR with a 2 on the other. Ingleby’s mill at Tadcaster was grinding with rollers by around 1883, according to Joseph Rank. Both these flour seals are 18 mm across and weigh just over 5 g.

Getting one identified

Elton’s guide is free to search. To submit a seal:

• Photograph both sides, even if one is blank.
• Don’t crop the photos.
• Give the diameter in mm, the weight in g and the county it came from.

Weigh and measure it before you clean anything. A little soil does no harm. For scale and weight habits, see our lead token chart and the musket ball size chart.

Reporting

Most lead seals aren’t Treasure, though since the 2023 change an object over 200 years old can qualify if it is of exceptional significance. They are worth recording with the PAS, because a provenanced seal can link a field to a town’s cloth trade. See what counts as treasure.

FAQ

What is a cloth seal?

A small lead seal clamped onto a length of cloth to show it had been inspected and taxed, or to label who made or sold it. They were used from the late 13th century to the mid 19th century.

What is the difference between a two-disc and a four-disc seal?

A two-disc seal is two discs joined by a strip, folded over the cloth and fixed with a rivet. A four-disc seal has four parts in a line and appeared from the late 16th century. From the 1610s, four-part seals were used for the alnage in most counties.

What does ‘searched’ mean on a cloth seal?

It means the cloth had been examined. Many seals carry ‘searched’ plus figures for weight in pounds, and sometimes length in yards, stamped by the local alnage officer.

What is a lead bag seal?

A lead seal that closed a sack, often of flour. Bag seals weren't common until the 18th century and lasted until the mid 20th century. Flour seals often carry a miller's name and a grade number such as 0, 1 or 2.

Where can I get a lead seal identified?

Stuart Elton's Cloth and Bag Seal Identification Guide (bagseals.org) takes photos of both sides, the diameter in mm, the weight in g and the county where it was found. Your Finds Liaison Officer can also record it.

Sources

Every figure in this guide comes from one of these. We checked each one on 1 November 2026.

1. Geoffrey Egan, “Provenanced Leaden Cloth Seals”, PhD thesis, University College London, 1987 (UCL Discovery). discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1349956/
2. Stuart F. Elton, The Cloth and Bag Seal Identification Guide. www.bagseals.org/
3. The Cloth and Bag Seal Identification Guide, BSG.II.00005, “Cloth seal structure and terminology” (after Egan, British Museum Occasional Paper 93). www.bagseals.org/seals/bsg-ii-00005/
4. The Cloth and Bag Seal Identification Guide, BSG.BS.01508, “Flour Bag, 45, Seal”. www.bagseals.org/seals/bsg-bs-01508/
5. The Cloth and Bag Seal Identification Guide, BSG.BS.00591, “Flour Bag Seal, Ingleby, J A, Swan White Flour”. www.bagseals.org/seals/bsg-bs-00591/