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Description: | A cast lead sack seal of Modern date. It is oval in form with the remains of three oval perforations visible around its edges that would have enabled attachment of the seal to a sack. Both faces have stamped marks of value and decoration. One face carries the legend *ORIGINAL arranged around a central pellet(?) within a circular stamp. The other has a central motif formed from beets with tall leaves and stars. The surrounding legends read as follows, above the beets: SCHUTZMARKE ; beside the beets KL.WANZ-LEBENER / ORI-GINAL ; and below the beets RABBETHGE & GIESECKE. The entire object measures 22.62mm in width, 20.81mm in height, 7.41mm in thickness and 12.73g in weight. This is a lead sack seal for sugar beet seeds produced by the German sugar factory of Rabbethge and Giesecke. Founded by Matthias Christian Rabbetghe in Klein Wanzleben (Saxony) in 1856 the factory became a joint stock company in 1885. At that time patent was applied for the use of the company's trademark, three stars crowning beets and the wording "Schutzmarke, Kleinwanzlebener Original, Rabbethge und Giesecke". After the Second World War the company moved to Einbeck and continues to breed and produce plants and seed today under the company name KWS (for more detailed history of the company see www.kws.de). This suggests that the current sack seal probably dates to between the period of the firm becoming a joint stock company in 1885 and the end of World War II in 1945.
Original Image | Publisher: | http://finds.org.uk | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Identifier: | http://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/r... | Go to resource |
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