I have what looks like a wine bottle cork-sized seal made out of lead. It has a stamp on both flat sides. On one side it reads ADMINISTRATION DES DOUANES (CUSTOMS ADMINISTRATION) and ORD. DU 8 JANVIER 1817 (??? on January 8 1817) On the opposite side it has a crest / shield with 3 fleur de lis and the words: ?????? DE PARIS (?????? of/from Paris)
1. What does the abbreviation ORD. mean?
2. What could this item be? It really looks to be some kind of seal that is round like a cork in a wine bottle, but is very short...partly from the press of the stamp on both flat sides.
The 6 letter word that I cannot quite make out looks like: PEREA?
The first letter may not be a P and the 2nd E may not be an E.
The last letter is not legible. Thanks for your help!
2006-07-26 10:45:47 · 4 answers · asked by Jason G 1 in Travel ➔ France ➔ Other - France
this is weird...
the only "ordonnance du 8 janvier 1817" i could find was a royal law edicted by napoleon about slavery. It said that slavery was illegal and allowed the government to seize property of the "niger houses" ie : places were slaves were "housed" or sold.
If this is the law your lead seal refers to, then it means that bottle was seized in one of those slave houses. Perhaps as evidence, for a trial? Or simply to be sold afterwards... no idea.
Of course it might refer to a law that doesn't exist anymore and was lost...
As for the 6 letter word, it should be a tittle or the name of an organisation. could it be "mairie"(mayor house) or "prefet"(chief of police and of the "departement"/county) ? might be "bureau" (office of paris)
I must admit that even if I'm french, I don't know all the titles that exist nowadays... as for 2 hundred years ago, well, let's just say most of them have changed since then, and those which haven't changed have disapeared...
after some thought, I believe it must have been "bureau de paris", then it would mean this bottle was seized(?) by the custom administration office in paris.
2006-07-26 22:20:37 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The "ORD" refers to Ordonnance, basically the :"Law of January 1817" This would be the law governing the use of such seals by the Customs department, how much they could charge, etc. It sounds like you have a tax stamp from a wine bottle which would have sealed the cork in place in the bottle to prove the tax had been paid. I don't know about Perea - sounds like a Spanish/Portuguese name, perhaps the area where the wine came from, which is why there was a customs stamp on it which wouldn't have been on domestic French wine.
2006-07-26 15:10:51 · answer #2 · answered by Mama Gretch 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In this context (of customs) ord could mean ordonnance. Like an order of the day.
2006-07-26 10:49:40 · answer #3 · answered by robert43041 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
u can try a free translation site called freetranslation.com and type in the french words and it will translate them to english for free.
2006-07-26 10:49:34 · answer #4 · answered by ms 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋