The seal casts collection and the digitisation of the sigillographic collections of the national archives of Belgium

Abstract

The present article draws the history of how the seal casts collection of the National Archives of Belgium (NAB) was created and accumulated in the course of the years and gives a short presentation of the cast production process. This first section is followed by a short overview of the collection as such and how it was digitised and published online from 2009 to 2015. This article will give technical information about casting methods and highlight the process of casting production. We will explain which periods were the most successful for the production of castings and why. Many reasons explain why this campaign of reproduction did not follow the same rhythm over the last 150 years. Explaining our digitalization of the castings is primarily aimed at offering a methodological reflexion for those who want to embark on a similar project. Finally, the seal matrices collection and the 3D-digitisation project that started in January 2015 will be presented. This project is technically innovative as it uses 3D digitalization. We will demonstrate that it leads to interesting findings which could involve other Belgian federal institutions or any institution keeping a collection of matrix seals. Refs 17.