Italian Bale Seal - help with additional info?

[brianc053]

Hi everyone. Over the weekend I found this bale seal, and after some research I've been able to learn that it's Italian (the "ITALIA" on one side gave it away), and that the word "DOGANE" is Italian for "customs".
But I don't know about the "55" or the "BO", so if anyone can offer additional information on this seal I'd appreciate it. I'd especially like an estimate of the age/date of the seal.

I can't find anything like it on the web searching images. I'd love to come up with a plausible story for how an Italian bale seal ended up in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, USA.

Thanks!

- Brian

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Treasure of Victoria Peak - Grab it through Amazon!

[Hunk-a-lead]

Hi everyone. Over the weekend I found this bale seal, and after some research I've been able to learn that it's Italian (the "ITALIA" on one side gave it away), and that the word "DOGANE" is Italian for "customs".
But I don't know about the "55" or the "BO", so if anyone can offer additional information on this seal I'd appreciate it. I'd especially like an estimate of the age/date of the seal.

I can't find anything like it on the web searching images. I'd love to come up with a plausible story for how an Italian bale seal ended up in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, USA.

Thanks!

- Brian
View attachment 1993782
View attachment 1993783

quite interesting find, well done. would love to know how that ended up under your coil

 

[brianc053]

Bumping this one more time on the Today's Finds list in hopes someone can share some further insights into a seal like this.
Any guesses about the timeframe/age?
Any information on what it might have sealed?

Thanks.
- Brian

 

[Tom_in_CA]

I can't help you on exact Target ID, but just wanted to say that the only time I've ever found true-bale-seals (like that) are in the context of no later than mid 1800s -ish.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

And when I say "true bale seals", I mean : Not to be confused with the beer-bottle twisty seal top things.

 

[Red-Coat]

Interesting. The star within a wreath superimposed on a cogwheel is the current emblem of the Italian Republic (emblema della Repubblica Italiana) and wasn't adopted as the country's formal emblem for official purposes until 5 May 1948.

I would assume this not to be a bale seal as such, but more probably from a keg or barrel of something such as wines or spirits imported in bulk. I don't know what the letters and numbers might mean, but I would think they likely relate to the Italian district office that authorised the seal and/or tariff coding or classification of goods for taxation purposes.

 

[Kenosha Kid]

BO is the code for the province of Bologna. Can’t help any further...

 

[brianc053]

Thanks everyone! And Red-Coat thanks for the specific reference to "emblema della Repubblica Italiana".
Combining that with Bologna ("BO") and "55" one plausible explanation would be something shipped / imported in bulk in 1955 from Bologna, Italy.

(Tom_in_CA I know what you're saying about older bale seals, and it's still possible this is an older one, but that star+wreath+"Italia" or "Italiana" does match with that emblem that Red-Coat pointed out).

I wrote to the Italian Customs organization (in Italian, translated by Google Translate) and sent a picture but they have not replied. If they do I'll update.

All this still doesn't explain how it ended up in the middle of a large (hundreds of acres) farm in NJ, but it at least satisfies my desire to know a bit more. Thanks everyone.
- Brian

 

[BennyV]

Maybe off of one of those old Chianti bottles

 

[CRUSADER]

Interesting. The star within a wreath superimposed on a cogwheel is the current emblem of the Italian Republic (emblema della Repubblica Italiana) and wasn't adopted as the country's formal emblem for official purposes until 5 May 1948.

With that in mind. The '55' could be 1955?