Russian Bale Seal, Baltic States, Flax, NP, 1758, N 24
Russian Bale Seal, Baltic States, Flax, NP, 1758, N 24, Image by StuE, Found by John GM.
Found on the Thames foreshore, 30mm, 23.8g.
Russian bale seal
From Ged, "N 24 .. NP .. AN12ӨБ .. 1758
graded at post number 24 at a port on the Baltic Sea coast in 1758 ..
I am still working on these extended types AN12ӨБ and can't say with certainty what the initials mean .. AN is probably the Grower/Owner/Agent initials but the only similar on the database for number only seals are .. AN9FE, ANRHC, AN12MP, AN12П, AN9P, AN12MP, AN9ПУ, AN6П, AN12П ... and the seal is very distorted so if the last letters are actually AN12OH there is the possibility it could read AN12 "Outshot" which is 12 "short hemp seconds" to the bale .. making it a hemp seal ... but at the moment let's go for a flax seal .. see IDS 476 on Russian Lead Flax & Hemp Bale Seals."