Early 19thC Shellac Town Seal Impressions. (3)

During the late 18th century, collecting fever took over the middle and upper classes in Britain. All sorts of things were being collected, from butterfly’s and insects to lavish Greek and Roman antiquities from the grand tour. The less wealthy collected things such as these. They would go on a tour of their own in this country and visit town halls and take impressions of the country, grand and even royal charter seals, by permission of course. This was done with Shellac, the latex of the day. These were highly prized by collectors of the day, a unique souvenir of each town visited. Here we have a small collection of these Shellac impressions. It will take a little research to find out what they are, but each is a very interesting piece of antiquity. They are all in good order but being over 150 years old have some amount of fragility. The largest measures 1.5 x 3 inches.

Code: 27078