Pages: 311-332

Lead seals are the most numerous sphragistic finds in the area of Old Rus. It is a pity that the informative potential of Old-Russian seals is not comprehensively investigated. Although the materials themselves have been subject of discussion among the historians for almost one and a half century, not even the total number of finds has been defined. In this paper, 144 seals of the pre-Mongolian period from the collection of the Kievan collector V. V. Nechitaylo are analysed. Photos of the items are published in a booklet by V. A. Anokhin (2012). During examination of these finds it became possible to identify a
sphragistic group unknown earlier (XI/3). Thirty types unidentified before have been found among the princely signs represented on the seals. Evidently, even a relatively small series of seals can be an essential contribution to our understanding of the Old-Russian sphragistics as a whole.

Keywords: Old Rus, pendant seals, systematization, princely signs, private collections

Information about author:

Serge Beletsky (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation). Doctor of Historical Sciences. Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Dvortsovaya Emb., 18, Saint Petersburg, 191186, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]