BSG.BS.00894 — Russian Bale Seal, Baltic States, Flax, NP, 1761

Found Near Blackpool, Wrea Green, APPROX 22mm by 5mm thick.

These seals are Russian flax bale quality control seals.

One of a sub group of bale seals all with N and a number on one side surrounded by four florets but this one probably has N:P (actually the : on this seal consists of a floret or star above a shell or fan!) at the top. Below the N:P is AN9P and 1761 below that. The other side has N above the number 12. Both sides probably have four flourets around the writing. See other N and Narva Estonia bale seals for more information.

Despite the date this seems to belong to the unprovenenced group from 1740s-1760 shown in Russian Cloth Seals in Britain: Trade, Textiles and Origins by John Sullivan, section 2a and 2b in the type table, p.16, and discussed in section 5.2, p.19.

Inscription deciphered and completed by Ged Dodd of The PeaceHavens Project, IDS 95 using his extensive database:- N P / AN9P / 1761 // N / 12