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Directory: Antiques: Decorative Art: Jewelry: English: Pre 1837 VR: Item # 1426684

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Moylan-Smelkinson/The Spare Room
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P.O. Box 4684
Baltimore, Maryland 21212
tel. 410-435-3738

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With a Latin inscription translated as "Under a clear sky France suffers", this 18K Carnelian fob seal depicts an African slave in profile, carved atop a family crest, all shown above a ribbon banner reading "PURUM PATIENTIA FRANCE". Notwithstanding the word "France" in the inscription, our wax seal fob is English. The seal harkens back to the British abolitionist movement in France, during which time the British people actively sought to pressure the French to abolish slavery. This fob seal shows the strong anti-slavery movement that existed among the British following the reinstatement of slavery by Napoleon. It was the anti-slavery movement in England which induced the second abolition of slavery in France through the July Revolution of 1848, which officially abolished slavery in France for the remainder of history. Perfect for a historian, collector, professor, or student of European history, our fob depicts a critical time in the history of the French and English anti-slavery movement. Ideally worn as a pendant attached to an antique gold chain.