Russian Bale Seal, Baltic States, Flax, NP, 1801

Russian Bale Seal, Baltic States, Flax, NP, 1801, Image by Bilox, Found by Jammy Ged.
Found in Wetherby / Knaresbough area, 22.0mm, 11.7g.

Russian Flax quality control seal.

First side:-
First line - NP = unknown initials.*
Second line - АБ12 = initials and numerals indicating the content of the bales.
Third line - 1801 = date of assessment.

Second side:-
First line- ЛД = LD = l'nyanoy dosmotr = Flax Inspection.
Second & Third line - С.КЛА = S.KLA // ДУХИ(H?) = DUKhI(N) name of quality control officer, S. Kladukhin, also recorded on 1804 seal LCM:90.36/10, see App.7.3*.
Fourth line - H42 = N42 = number of work station used by QA officer.

See Fig.4b and section 5.2.4.1, p.21, *Russian Cloth Seals in Britain: Trade, Textiles and Origins by John Sullivan.

Unproven theory on the possibility of the NP seals originating from the port of Narva, Estonia. See David Powell's article in The Leaden Tokens Telegraph Nov. 2006:-
"Baltic Bale Seals
We had a foretaste of these in April, when I illustrated a couple found in Gainsborough, Lincs, and reputed to be linked to the Baltic cloth trade; their Cyrillic script a novelty, but at least Lincolnshire is on the coast facing east. However, Nigel Tucker has now sent in four found in, of all place, Devon; i.e. right over the other side of the country. He has read that SPB, on the top of several pieces, stands for St.Petersburg; which begs the question, what towns do the other abbreviations stand for, and what does the rest of the writing mean? Not a question I thought I would have much hope of answering, until I found the following description of a journal article, published by the Tayside and Fife Archaeological Committee, on Google:
John Sullivan: ‘Lead Seals of Russian Origin in Fife’; abstract "--- Lead seals, although known from various European countries and usually referred to as ‘Russian flax bale seals’, have been little studied. They can, however, provide information on their town of origin, contents of the bales they sealed, and initials or names of owners and inspectors in Russia responsible for quality control. The article studies 233 seals found in Fife and provides a guide to their identification, sets out characteristics by which seals from different Russian towns can be recognised, and points out changes in their design from the late 18th to early 19th century."
I can recommend John’s excellent article in Vol.6 of the TAFAC Journal for those wishing further details, but herewith a brief summary. Any over-simplifications are my own.
There are three families of Russian bale seal commonly found in this country, distinguished by the initials
on the first line of their obverse, as follows:
ARX {ARCH} = Archangel {always Cyrillic?}
CAB {SPB } = St.Petersburg {Cyrillic or Western script}
NP {NR} = Narva {always Cyrillic}
John originally regarded the latter pieces as being of unknown origin but I am fairly confident after finding
the following passage on the Net: “Narva, Estonia: Trade between Tayside and Narva began at the end of
the 1820s with ships bringing timber and a little flax. This trade increased through the 1830s. By the late
19th century Narva was the region's major industrial city and rivalled Reval (Tallinn) as a port. “
The Archangel pieces are typically around 27-28mm diameter as opposed to the 21-22mm of the other two,
and are of substantially different {and less attractive} style. In this article we shall forget Archangel and
concentrate on St.Petersburg and Narva, whose pieces are similar. They may generally be interpreted
something along the following lines, although there are exceptions {witness the rather earlier piece on the
right}:
Obv.line 1: Port initials as above.
Obv.lines 2,3: Codified data, probably identifying the producer,
to be discussed.
Obv.line 4: Date
Rev.line 1: LD
Rev.lines 2,3: Initial and surname of quality control officer
Rev.line 4: Reference number, to be discussed.

[Continued in LTT Dec. 2006]

Baltic Bale Seals {continued from last month}
To resume where we left off last month, let’s try and read some at least a little of what is on the three pieces shown. I’m not a natural linguist, but for most of what you need, knowing the letters of the Cyrillic alphabet will be adequate. If you don’t, they are on the Internet. I’m a bit hazy on them myself, but it won’t stop me having a go. If you still can’t fathom it, I am delighted to say that John Sullivan is hoping to publish a book on the things sometime next year. Assuming that LTT is still going, I’ll let you know when it’s out.
Figs.1a,2a: LD at the top, as per last month; standard form; not sure of the meaning. Probably the rank of an official, e.g. quality control officer. Next two lines, a name, presumed to be his; I’ll guess at something like S.Sinyamov and C.Bargov respectively. As I understand it, P is an R, C is an S, H is an N, backwards R is a “ya” sound. The reference number at the bottom commences with something alphabetic, usually H or Ho {N or No}, presumably meaning “number”, and is followed by one; e.g. H14 in Fig 2a. It can be possible if looking hurriedly to confuse this with the date; e.g. H66 on Fig.1a could be misread as 1766 if one was not careful. The meaning of the number is uncertain; perhaps a location, or the serial number of the sealing tongs. Figs.1b,2b: Top lines both NP, which I take to indicate the port Narva. Next line, or sometimes two, a code usually consisting typically of a couple of initials followed by a number, frequently 12, with another letter at the end; perhaps the identity of the producer, and/or the type of cloth? Finally, the date.
Fig.3 is of a different format. I understand without knowing the fine detail that there are several different series, each with distinct date ranges and formats, commencing from about 1741 and running on into the 1840s; also, that there is an uneven date distribution over that period, in consequence of the various economic {and no doubt military} events of the time. I for one look forward to the appearance of John’s book, and if anyone would like to contribute to the debate, even if be the evidence of a solitary piece, they will be very welcome."
See Ged Dodd's work below.

The evidence in John Sullivan's book points to them coming from St. Petersburg* but Ged Dodd's research suggests they are from various baltic states with the tax being paid to St Petersburg.
Ged Dodd, "in 1817, 1818 the ship Bruce arrived in Dundee with consignments of flax from St Petersburg ... all of the bales would be designated NP not SPB (SPB would have meant they were hemp) all seals with NP designation before 1829 are flax seals and all seals before 1829 with SPB are hemp seals ... without exception ... the rules changed in 1829 when faith in the Baltic Port grading system failed and NP was abolished.. Faith in the Archangel grading system held true which is why after about 1840 only Archangel seals have been found .. into the early 1900's. ... there are no NP designations after 1828."

Inscription deciphered and completed by Ged Dodd of The PeaceHavens Project, IDS 47 using his extensive database:-
ЛД = LD / C.KЛAДУXИH = S.KLADUKHIN / H42 // NP / AБ12H / 1801