Lead seal

This artifact is a lead bale (or cloth) seal. It was found in Amherstburg, Ontario, on a site excavated by the University of Windsor in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and archaeologists from the Ministry of Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Culture Industries in 2004. This artifact comes from a site that includes the home of Matthew Elliott (1739-1814), where he operated a trading post as an Agent of the British Indian Department between the end of the 18th and early 19th century. Lead seals generally were used to identify the manufacture and export of cloth bales, however this seal is unique in that it depicts the Coat of Arms of King George III, during his reign as the King of Great Britain. Such bale seals were restricted to goods procured and intended for use by the British government, either the military, or, in this case, as supplies for the British Indian Department to be used in annual gift distributions to Indigenous Nations loyal to the British Crown. These large gathering happened regularly at Matthew Elliott’s estate during the 1790s-1800s.