Russian, Sevastopol Novorossiysk Mill Seal, Image by StuE, Found by Grant.
Found in Scotland, 23 x 19mm, 13.4g.
Russian Seal showing two busts with SEBASTOPOL CRIMEE inscription within the lower half of a border formed by two, off set circles. On the other side is НОВOРOССIЙСК / МЕЛБНИЦА / ВЬ / СЕВАСТПОЛ. (with the help of other seals)
See Figs. 71a and 71b, in Russian Cloth Seals in Britain: Trade, Textiles and Origins by John Sullivan. p.62.
"one seal, 23mm x 19mm, has a circumscription only part of which can be deciphered НОВА-СК (= nova-sk) with 'МЕЛБНИЦА' (mel'nista = 'mill') in the centre, indicating the name of a mill, the location or ownership of which remains unknown. The reverse side is in Roman letters, but only part of it is legible."
The mill was located (ВЬ = in or at) НОВO[РO]ССI[СК] = Novorossiysk (a city in Krasnodar Krai, Russia and the country's main port on the Black Sea) and Sevastopol which appears in Roman script on one side and Cyrillic, СЕВАСТПОЛ, on the other. Or perhaps the mill was named after the city of Novorossiysk but sited in Sevastopol as it appears on the seal - Novorossiysk Mill in/at Sevastopol. As Novorossiysk only became a town in 1869 after the Russian Navy had decided to build fortifications there in 1839 it maybe that the name refers to one or more family names and was later applied to the town? The raw materials for cement were soon discovered in the location and Novorossiysk developed a thriving cement industry that continues today, see Welcome to Russia (Novorossiisk).
