Dear Terry, sorry for the belated reply due to my absence; just came back home today.
The size (width) seems to be okay (would be around 24mm); using the pixel size data of the scan, the size of the printed portion does match the size mentioned in the Proclamation (5-boo, which is 5x10/33= 1.52cm).
About the chops (in black), they are in two columns (lines, as traditional Japanese writing is from top to bottom, right to left), and it seems that the right line shows the location of the producer and the left the producer's name.
The chop of the first image is separated into two as it has been used as to seal the overlapping part, so it should be read as "Tamura-Sanezawa / Sakuma-Shigesaku". Tamura-Sanezawa is a local town in Fukushima prefecture.
The chop of the second image could be read as "Ote-?? / Nambu-Jintaro". Although the third character of the first line is unreadable, "Ote" is the name of the legendary princess who came to Fukushima prefecture and taught silk production to the people.
So these pretty seals should have been used to tie and seal the silk thread bundles produced in Fukushima prefecture and were exported outside Japan.
The size of the seals are okay, the location of the chops are consistent to the silk industry situation; I definitely would say that these seals are true witnesses of the silk export industry in early Meiji period.
Once more I am amazed at the detailed history you have provided. It is far in excess of what I expected when I put my first scans up. You have given me all the information I need to write up a showcase page for these silk seals.
It is my great pleasure to hear that my information was useful
The explanations on the chops might have been quite confusing, so I made a reproduction of the two chops. The first one is the possible full image of the chops, the second one shows how the "Tamura-Sanezawa / Sakuma-Shigesaku" chop has been possibly applied and is separated on the seal.
A truly deep history behind a small piece of paperc this is why we're all addicted to this hobby !
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Posted 12/21/2013 11:27 am
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