Mozambique Company, Paris seals (Companhia de MoÇambique Comité de Paris)

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Zinc 38mm (seal size)
Zinc 38mm (seal size)
Brass 42mm (seal size) in reverse
Brass 42mm (seal size) in reverse

At the 17 September 2015 meeting of the NSSA a member showed the above document seals. The two document seals were used in the Mozambique Company’s Paris Registration Office sometime between 1891 and 1942. The author has yet to sight any documents where the seals have been used, however they were probably used on share documents. If any reader has an example please contact this website so it too can be illustrated.

The Mozambique Company was established under a Portuguese Royal Charter in 1891. It controlled two provinces in central Mozambique for a set period of fifty years. The company’s shares were largely owned by British, German and South African shareholders.

The Mozambique Company founded the Banco da Beira (a private bank) which issued currency in pounds and issued some 280 stamps. In 1891 the company built a railway lines from the coast to Salisbury in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and in 1922 to Nyasaland (now Malawi).

In 1942 the territory controlled by the company was transferred back to the Portuguese colonial authorities. The company continued to trade in agriculture and other commercial ventures and in 1961 its business’ were absorbed into Grupo Entreposto Comercial de Moçambique.

For more information on the Mozambique Company (Portuguese: Companhia de Moçambique) please see this Wikipedia Article or this article on the history of the company.