Dear Kimberly,
We have a collection of bale seals from 2 Dutch shipwrecks: Batavia 1629
and Vergulde Draeck 1656. They are illustrated in two British
Archaeological Reports BAR SS 36 and BAR International Series 489. An
authority on bale seals is Geoff Egan (Dept Medieval and Later
Antiquities(British Museum, London). His latest book is: Lead Cloth Seals
and related items in the British Museum. British Museum Occasional Paper
93, 1994. He has also published articles in Post-Medieval Archaeology. Bale
seals have also been recovered from 15th to 17th century excavations in
Amsterdam. If you want to send us an illustration of your seal we may be
able to find a comparison in our collection.
 
Yours sincerely
Myra Stanbury
Curator, Maritime Archaeology
 
Jeremy Green
Department of Maritime Archaeology
Western Australian Maritime Museum
Cliff Street
FREMANTLE WA 6160
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(61-9)4318440
(61-9)3355351 fax or (3357224)
See us on the WWW at http://mm.wa.gov.au/Museum.html