Danish, Flour Bag Seal, Schmidt

Danish, Flour Bag Seal, Schmidt, Image by Woodwynd, Found by Sam Solo.
Found near Kilwinning, Ayrshire, 16 x 22mm.

Three ears of cerial tied together around their stems, (?H.D.) SCHMIDT ... curving downward above and K(?I)OBEN - ... curving upward below // blank

From information supplied by Alan Furgusson this was originally believed to be a seal from the German Russian flour milling magnates, Andreas and Peter Schmidt, who set up Russia's largest mill in Saratov and the country's first steam mill - The Centre for Volga German Studies, Concordia University, Vera Beljakova Miller © 2002.

From Paul Cannon, "I wonder if the inscriptions read H?.J.SCHMIDT [……….] and KJØBEN[HAVN]. The inscription below the three ears of corn seems to be the first part of the capital of Denmark. Older forms of the name Copenhagen in Danish are Kjøbenhavn or Kiøbenhavn.

The mill associated with the seal appears to be referred to in the directory “Adressebog for Danmark, Sverige, Norge og Finland almindelig Haandbog i det daglige Forretningsliv: Fabrikanter og Fabriker” [Kjøbenhavn 1893-1894]. The entry for the Danish capital (see p 8) under the section for Dampmøllere (ie Steam Mills) contains the following mill:

Langebroes Dampmølle (H J Schmidt & Co), Vestervoldg. 133, v. Langerbro. Vester Voldgade ie West Rampart Street still exists today but not the steam mill, as far as I can tell. see Adressebog for Danmark, Sverige, Norge og Finland, almindelig Haanflboi i flet flaglige Forretuinisliy, Fabrikanter og Fabriker, 1893-4, digitised by DET KONGELIGE BIBLIOTEK THE ROYAL LIBRARY København / Copenhagen."