Early 18thC Parisian Consumer Tax Desk Seal

Seal Description

An early 18th century French wood and brass desk seal, the handle of short, stubby form with rounded top and tapering stem to a brass collar and oval brass matrix, engraved with a central shield comprising three royal fleur de lys under a royal coronet, flanked by two crossed floral branches with a circumscription with a lined border reading:

FERME GENERALLE(sic) DES OCTROIS MUNICIPAUX

A seal for the collection of indirect taxes from the population. 

"There were two categories of tax in pre-revolutionary France: direct taxes and indirect taxes. Direct taxes were levied on individuals and collected by royal officials. Indirect taxes took the form of duties and excises on goods and were collected by ‘tax farmers’.

By the 1780s, indirect taxes made up almost half the government’s taxation revenue while direct taxes accounted for about one-third.

Most indirect taxes were gathered by 40 fermiers-généraux or ‘tax-farmers’: wealthy individuals who acquired the right to collect taxes on behalf of the government. This was such a profitable enterprise that each fermier-généraux paid the royal government up to 80 million livres for a six-year lease. In good economic times, when production and trading were up, some tax-farmers made several million livres per year.

This privatised and unregulated method of tax collection was naturally open to abuse and corruption. The collection methods used by the fermiers-généraux and their agents could be arbitrary, heavy-handed and sometimes brutal." Copyright alpha history https://alphahistory.com/frenchrevolution/taxation/#Tax_farmers

The seal is presented in very good condition with its original rivet in place and a good dela of patina and showing some wear as would be expected of a well-used tax seal!

Seal Specification

Height:  61mm

Diameter of matrix:  23mmx25mm

Weight:  45g