Russian Bale Seal, Baltic States, Hemp, SPB, 17??, Rein Hemp
Russian Bale Seal, Baltic States, Hemp, SPB, 17??, Rein Hemp, Image & Found by Nick Stevens.
Found on Thames Foreshore, 20mm.
(ЧИСТА) / R // crown / No 11 / 17?? / SPB
A very early Russian Rein hemp bale seal.
From Ged Dodd, "This is one of the earliest known dated seals which set the ground rules for all subsequent seals.
Obverse:- ЧИСТА (clean) was the earliest term describing Rhine Hemp. R being Rein, (also found as 'rhine' and 'rine'.) The term comes from the German 'reinhanf', meaning literally 'clean hemp' (sometimes abbreviated on later seals as A.H.) The term was applied to a fine quality of Russian hemp imported through the Baltic port of Riga; often called (though not in the Dictionary Archive) Riga Rhine. In one document it was valued at 27s the Cwt as compared with Pass Hemp or standard Riga Hemp at 22s.
Reverse:-The crown was later abbreviated to K (kron) for krown grade. The number being the post number 11. The earliest known date being 1731. The SPB is usually taken as being St Petersburg, however this quality of hemp was credited to being shipped through Riga, and until 1829 SPB meant that a hemp tax had been paid to St Petersburg and after the big upheaval of 1829 SPB meant that a flax tax had been paid to St Petersburg.
See reference IDS 2371 on the page The PeaceHavens Project, Seal Numbers 2300 - 2399."
