Tillet block insert

Tillet stamps were a marketing device used for Exeter’s woollen cloth exports.
Pieces of woollen cloth for export were packed in cloth wrappers or tillets. Twenty or more wrapped pieces of cloth would be made up into a bale. An attractive mark, rather like a trademark, was stamped onto the tillet wrapper using a tillet block. The stamping was done in the workshop of a tilleter using a large tillet stamping press.
Tillet blocks were composite objects – the main block had recesses into which inserts could be placed. There were shield-shaped inserts with attractive, often heraldic designs. There were also smaller inserts for merchant names, merchant marks or lengths of cloth.

This shield-shaped insert features a stag or hart underneath a tent or pavilion.

Object Summary

Accession Loan No.
52/1919/2
Category
Antiquities
Collection Class
Social and industrial history
Collection Area Region
Northern Europe
Collector Excavator
Evans, Joan, Miss
Common Name
tillet block insert
Simple Name
block
Period Classification
Georgian (1714-1837)
Production Town

Production Person Initials

Production Person Surname

Production Year Low

Production Year High


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shield tillet block insert with stag passant in tent