Polish, Railway Seal, PKP, Image & Found by Wesley Honour.
Found in Cupar, Scotland, ?mm.
Undeciphered marks on tab // KAŁUSZ / -.- / (2 4 X)? on panel / -.- // STANISŁAWOW / DYR. / blank panel / P.K.P. // blank tab
From Paul Cannon, "This is a Polish railway seal. I believe the name on the seal reads KAŁUSZ. This is the Polish name for the present city of Калуш ie Kalush, in the western part of Ukraine. Below this is a group of panels, separately impressed with what may be a date.
The other face reads STANISŁAWOW, the Polish name for the city of Stanislav (Stanislau in German), about 25km to the SE of Kalush. Since 1962 Stanislav was renamed by the Soviets as Ivano-Frankivsk, the name it still has. Stanisławow, as well as being a city was also the name of the much larger official district, in which it and Kalush were part of. Below the name are the letters DYR. / a group of three panels apparently unmarked / the letters P.K.P.
Many Polish railway seals are recorded on the Europlombs website. None however record either place names. The many seals there identify ‘DYR.’ as being short for the Polish word ‘Dyrekcja’. The translations there suggest a meaning of ‘direction’.
A railway line still joins Kalush and Ivano-Frankivsk. I believe the seal can probably be dated to the interwar years 1919-1939 when the short lived Second Polish Republic was in existence and the use of the Polish names and language would be expected. The much enlarged boundaries of Poland at this time included parts of Ukraine and Belarus."
