Russian, Circular Dated Seal, Image & Found by Mark Selby.
Found in Perthshire, 28 x 26 x 5mm.
The central emblem looks like a seed head around this is the date 1835 and around all is a Cyrillic inscription - *С.П.В.Т.???ТО (*S.P.V.T.???TO). The other side is blank.
From Paul Cannon, "Based on the other custom’s seal TA can probably be expanded to ‘ТАможня’ and TOB to ‘ТОВар’? Whilst I can’t yet find any of the more common British types (with a blank reverse) on Russian sites perhaps this indicates they were attached to exported goods? I wonder if OTP can be expanded to ‘ОТРасль’ with the meaning of ‘department/section/branch’. The full inscription might therefore be expanded to С.П.Б. ТАможня ОТРасль ТОВар ie ‘St Petersburg customs department goods’??"
From Ged Dodd, "The date is read by starting with the 1 which is followed by a 7 or 8 and working round in a clockwise fashion .. reading the numbers as upright when they face the centre of the seal ..
This seal is therefore 1853 ..thistle . *C.П.Б.T.OT.TO
The seals have a symbol in the centre taking many different forms .. this one is a thistle top, others are crescents, flowers.
Cyrillic initials of City Customs Department Goods surround the rim .. the initials vary .. and can be as in this seal .. starting at *
*C.П.Б.T.OT.TO or extended as *C.П.Б.TA.OTP.TOB
C.П.Б (St Petersburg)
TAMOЖHЯ (Customs)
OTPACЛЬ (Department)
TOBAP (Goods)
(Riga seals have *РИЖОИ.ТА.ОТ.ТО)
These seals do not specify what the goods are and they were for general use with all goods.
One Riga seal has *РИЖОИ.TA. ПЕН.TOB specifying hemp.
РИЖОИ (Riga), TAMOЖHЯ (Customs) ПЕНKA (Hemp) TOBAP (Goods)
see ref IDS 262 on The PeaceHavens Project, Seal Numbers 201 - 300 and The PeaceHavens Project, Circular Dated Seals."
