Russian Seal, 1792, Image by StuE, Found by Demmy.
Found in Clashmore region, Scotland.
Cyrillic writing curved around the edge (IА)РИЖC.? with 17*92 across the middle and the Russian State Arms of the double-headed eagle holding orb and sceptre below with ЮTA to its right and ПОР curving on the seals lower right border. The other side is blank.
See PAS CORN-49B3A7 SEAL
"Cast lead Russian cloth seal, for flax or hemp, with the hulk of a ship at the centre of one face, surmounted by a double-headed eagle holding an orb and sceptre, which was the State Arms of Russia at the time (John Sullivan pers comm), and dated to 1789.
The transcription in Cyrillic around the edge of the seal reads:
САΗΚΤ(Ъ) ПΕΤΕРЂУРΓСΚОИ ПОРΤ which translates to: SANKT(+) PETERBURGSKOI PORT
There are several examples in Britain of such seals in other museum collections. For example:
Museum of London (81.522/40 and 82.427/15)
Bristol Museum (T9416)
Dumfries Museum has some good examples of St. Petersburg city seals (2001.32.2)
There have also been a cluster of finds in Dorset, especially around Lyme Regis and Bridport, and a number from Somerset. Their recovery is often in areas which either had a linen industry or rope walk or sail making enterprise, which is certainly the case for this findspot. Clearly local flax and hemp growers could not meet the demand for the raw material and supplies so they were sought in Russia. There is perhaps some evidence that later supplies were also brought from London by rail (John Sullivan, St Andrews, pers comm)."
See Figs. 63a and b on page 61, Russian Cloth Seals in Britain: Trade, Textiles and Origins by John Sullivan.
"Seals bearing the arms of Russia, a double-headed eagle usually holding an orb and sceptre which is straddled or surmounted by the date, were used in an official capacity, mainly by the Customs Service." page 45. The seal described by Sullivan is somewhat smaller, 13 - 17mm, as opposed to 17 - 25mm and the three similar seals shown on this site are blank on the other side. These are probably 'sub-department' issue as Sullivan explains, "However, it is possible that some seals were issued by a sub-department of the Customs service, since the Russian government at different times held a monopoly on or were the sole exporters of certain goods from which they derived the tax. Some of the seals recovered in Britain might, therefore, have been attached to consignments of goods that fell that fell under the jurisdiction of State Customs such as potash, timber and leather. They are relatively few in number and bear no indication of their place of issue."
