G'day to the listmembers - can any one help with this query please?
We have a letter of 1668 from Hull to London concerning shipping cargo
between those ports and Holland. The quantities are shown as a number
then a symbol, then the bill of lading mark - for instance one is a heart
inside a triangle.
The quantities are listed as
60 (symbol) (mark);
20 (symbol) (mark)
and the symbol appears to be a combination of the figures 2 and 4 -
like the sign now used for the planet Jupiter. We have this symbol on one
of our fonts, but it will not display in our e-mail programme.
The cargo appears to be pigges of lead so could this symbol be a
'quarter' i.e. 8 bushels? Does the symbol mean anything to any list member?
To put it into some kind of time frame for the language, the final
sentence of the letter is
" The 500 pigges I sould were all of the marke (heart in a triangle).
This with the tender of dew Respects rest Yr Lo friend Will.Raikes"
Any help/information would be much appreciated.
Eunice and Ron in Queensland
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check for old letters,Regency, British Postal History and Stamps, stamp
booklets, discworld,
http://members.xoom.com/leisurewrite/xmpage.html
http://www.home.gil.com.au/~ears/index.html
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