Guano Seal, Anglo Continental, Antwerp, Image & Found by MTC Cocoon Wim.
Found in the Oudenaarde region, East Flanders, Belgium, 20mm, 12.3g.
OHLENDORFF & Co / ANVERS / SEULS FABts, CONTROLE DES STATIONS ..GR...LES around // DEPOSE / cornucopia, GUANO du PERU DISSOUS curving downward TITRE GARANTI. curving upwards around
An excellent link outlining the history of Ohlendorff on the Continent has been supplied by Wim - Guano-Werke AG (formerly Ohlendorff'sche and Merck'sche works), "Founded in 1858, AG since 1883 as "Anglo-Continentale (formerly Ohlendorff'sche) Guano-Werke" with fertilizer factories in Hamburg, London, Antwerp and Emmerich (the last two expropriated after the First World War). In addition, operation of a guano, superphosphate and sulfuric acid factory in Linn (district of Krefeld since 1901). 1927 Acquisition of the "Merck's Guano and Phosphate Works AG" with factories in Harburg, Schönebeck, Vienenburg and Friedrichstadt, at the same time renaming as above. In the same year merger with the Lübeck sulfuric acid and superphosphate factory AG, Dänischburg. After the war, the majority stake of I.G. First of all, to Essen Wasag-Chemie AG. Later relocation only to Castrop-Rauxel, then to Krefeld. 1957 merger with "Superphosphatfabrik Nordenham AG". In 1994, the site Krefeld was sold to the "BASF Fertilizers Victor GmbH", since then only asset management and settlement of existing pension claims. In the meantime, BASF took over all shares."
See also Heimat und Geschichtverein Nörvenich, "The Anglo-Continentale Guanowerke were one of the largest global companies in their time with a share capital of 16 million. 6000 quintals of guano were powdered and bagged here every day. ... One of the largest importers in the second half of the 19th century was the Hamburg trading company Ohlendorff & Co, based in Hamburg, London, Antwerp and Emmerich a. Rh. Up to 140 shiploads were imported annually. The brothers Albertus Ohlendorff (1834 - 1894) and Heinrich Ohlendorff (1836 - 1928), who were also called "Schiet Barons" or "Guano Knights", became so rich in guano that they Bismarck and the Reich government had their own newspaper, the Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung. They were ennobled by Wilhelm I and made barons by Wilhelm II.
On October 22nd, 1883, the company Ohlendorff & Co. was transformed into the Anglo-Continentale corporation (formerly Ohlendorff`sche) Guano-Werke in Hamburg. They continued to import and process guano mainly from Peru. Until 1913 the company owned foreign plants in London and Antwerp, as well as a Thomas slag mill in Longwy-Bas in France, which, like the plant in Emmerich, were all lost as a result of the war. The loss of the factories in London and Antwerp was particularly difficult for society, as there was extensive, profitable business there. As a result of the loss of guano imports caused by World War I, the guano business was brought to a standstill. Before the First World War, imports from Peru were free and unlimited, and the Anglo-Continentale Guanowerke had a kind of monopoly for Germany. In 1908 the German chemist Fritz Haber succeeded in synthetically producing ammonia from hydrogen and nitrogen - for which he received the patent (Haber-Bosch process) in 1910 and the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1918; In doing so, he secured not only the production of artificial fertilizers, but also the munitions production for Germany during the First World War. The introduction of the Haber-Bosch process meant a drastic reduction in the need for guano. After 1914, the company's main production was almost completely converted to the manufacture of superphosphate and related products."
