Guild stamp

Up until the 19th century, master craftsmen and traders joined together to form so-called guilds. In the guild, the rules were laid down for each profession concerned. Anyone who did not belong to a guild could not practise a trade. These five stamps made of bronze with carved or turned wooden handles belonged to the Siegen guilds of hat-makers, red tanners, ropemakers, weavers and stonemasons. Besides letter engravings, the stamps show typical tools or products of the various trades, such as a hat for the hat-makers, a trowel for the stonemasons and a spinning hook for the ropemakers’ guild. The stamps served to seal documents such as the master or journeyman certificates, contracts and official correspondence. Pressed into wax or warm sealing ink, the stamps leave an imprint of the seal. The guild seal stamp of the Siegen hat-makers is marked with the year 1710, that of the Siegen weavers with the year 1766.