Dutch, Customs Seal, 289
Dutch Custom House Seal, 289, Image & Found by Paul Manning.
A Dutch Custom House seal. The first side depicts the crowned Dutch shield bearing the rampant lion of Holland (the Lesser Arms of the Netherlands*). The reverse has the inscription, R & A (Rechten en Accijnzen = Duties and Excise) over the control number, 289.
*The arms, consisting of a crowned lion armed and langued, holding in his dexter paw a sword and in the sinister paw seven arrows tight together, were first used in The Dutch Republic of the Seven United Provinces from 1584 until 1796 when revolution replaced it. It was returned in its current form in 1815 by the first king of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, William I, who added the azure, billetty or with a lion rampant or of Nassau (blue shield, gold lion & billets) from his family arms. However the colour change of the background from red to blue cannot be seen on a lead impression although it is implied by the addition of horizontal lines and the only other visual difference is the billets from the house of Nassau (small rectangles on the background which are only faintly evident on some of the seals). This means the seals cannot be older than 1815 and were probably unlikely to be still in use after the early 20th century.
See PAS DEV-7B1205
"Lead customs seal. From Holland, one side has the letters 'R & A'(for Dutch Customs and Excise) with '102' (the control number?)beneath stamped on it. This is surrounded by part of a beaded border. The other side has a lion rampant with a sword inside a shield with a crown (now worn) above. This represents the House of Orange. Dated after 1815, this is a common find and from any type of exported Dutch goods."
See Mark Ouwerkerk's Dutch Customs Seals – Catalogue for excellent details about these types of seals.
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