Alnage
Tuchplomben are seal -like, attached to cloths and other fabrics from the Middle Ages until the 18th century for the detection of conducted quality testing Warenplomben of lead. They are often represented in archaeological find material and represent an important source for the study of production, trading centers and trade routes dar.
History
Since the 13th century rules for the affixing of hallmark contained in guild statutes and authoritarian regulated trade regulations. It was in the interest of local communities and guilds, to ensure a certain quality standard. A testing and marking was everywhere necessary, where intervened between producer and consumer trade. The oldest preserved Tuchplomben are of Dutch origin and date from the 13th and 14th centuries. Many finds from the Late Middle Ages suggest Dutch textile centers, with a shift from the Flemish to the Dutch trading centers is observed. The importance of Tuchplomben is it clear how high the penalties ( up to the death sentence ) were that were completed in the Middle Ages and early modern times for abuse and counterfeiting of stamps. The scope of sealing illustrate numbers from the hotelbicycles cloth trading center of Ypres, where in the 14th century about 61,000 annually cloth seals and more than 13 stamp tongs were consumed on average. In the 16th century, German seals to take, bearing in mind that the annual figures occasionally given in brand image relate more to the date of an underlying regulation as to the embossing. The boom in the draper business, which culminated in 1600 in the decades is reflected in the statistics of Tuchplombenfunde that reach in the 17th century a quantitative climax. For the 18th century their number is declining rapidly.
Shape and placement
Tuchplomben in the form of so-called Scheibenstiftplomben are an invention of the Middle Ages. The blank consists of two discs connected together by a web of which has a one (sometimes twice ) pin, which, after it has been inserted through the Tuchsaum fits when folding the seal in the hole of the opposite pulley. After the stamping process - by forceps or punch - is the cohesion of these discs with the clamped therebetween cloth can not be solved without destruction. The material of the Tuchplomben is consistently soft and resistant lead. Often fabric bales were sealed with more than one lead, for example, when even the Tuchscherer had ( smoothed the woven cloth on the surface ) or dyer tested. Most seals have a diameter of 2-3 cm, the largest specimens, like the one pictured here, about 6 cm.
Types
The embossed designs allow conclusions on the function of the respective Plombentypen to:
- City Arms and specific terms ( eg stael ) indicate a significance of the seal as proof of quality control by authorities of the local guilds. Auditors were producers ( drapers, dyers ) or distributor ( wall Schneider). Could be tested dimensions, thread density, quality and intensity of staining.
- House brands or initials typically refer to (as proof of origin) to the manufacturer, less frequently (as proof of ownership) to the dealer. The manufacturer identification was important in order to identify the author can.
- English coats of arms and heads in profile English rulers show corresponding Steuerplomben that came with British cloths in commercial ports on the North Sea coast until 1728.
- Manufactory and factory mark mainly use word marks since the 18th century.
- Additional markings such as numbers or certain eingepunzte scratched barcodes on the back of the seals tagged certain quantities, mainly length information.
- Also linen was tested, but the proof is not happening here by Tuchplomben, but (especially in the 18th century) by a with wooden printing blocks ( Legge temples ) generated color imprint directly on the woven fabric.
Dissemination
The use of leaden Tuchplomben was spread throughout Europe, but the ancient complexes around the North Sea are best explored. Most finds of Tuchplomben were made naturally in the commercial cities. But there are individual cases in the countryside and in small towns that occupy a respective processing of baled tailors and other end users. Un-sealed cloth were usually in large cities ( with powerful guilds ) can not be traded.