Liebig’s Extract of Meat Company Seal, Image & Found by Fingers.
Found in Carnforth, Lancashire, 16 x 13mm.
As it is a ligature the initials could be in any order. The bovine animal does not appear to have udders or be massive enough for a bull. Bullocks are only raised for meat therefore it is possibly connected to the meat industry - Live Meat Exports ?
Identification supplied by Hans-Dieter Pütz. See Heimat und Geschichtverein Nörvenich, second seal down. He concludes that these seals have most likely come from the bags of fertilizer known to be made by the company from the horn/hoof, bone and blood by products from the meat harvesting. "The ligated letters LEM Co are also nowhere to be seen on the meat extract packaging or advertisements. Horn fertilizer mainly contains nitrogen and phosphorus. The coarser the substance (horn shavings), the slower it is implemented in the soil. Blood meal has a particularly high nitrogen content, some phosphorus and potash. Of these 3 slaughterhouse fertilizers, bone meal has the highest phosphorus content, it also contains nitrogen and a little potash. When mixed, these 3 fertilizers result in an organic complete fertilizer, which contains the 3 most important main nutrients. ... After 1924, LEMCO concentrated entirely on Europe and continued its business goal of producing Liebig's meat extract under the changed conditions of the 20th century. However, the Second World War temporarily brought their production to a complete standstill. In 1964 Liebig's and the global tea company Brook Bond & Company, founded by Arthur Brook in Manchester in 1869, merged to form Brook Bond Liebig Co. This was later taken over by the Unilever group. The successor company is Oxo. ... LEMCO's activities in Fray Bentos ended in 1929."
From Wikipedia, LEMCO brand, "In 1847, Justus von Liebig developed a concentrated beef extract in hopes of providing a cheap and nutritious meat substitute, Extractum carnis Liebig, for those unable to afford the real thing. His method was to trim the fat from the meat, break the meat into small particles, boil it with water to form a liquid of 6-8% solids, and then stir it over low heat, until it was reduced to a paste of 80% solids. However, in Europe meat was too expensive to economically supply the necessary raw materials to create the extract.
Liebig made his process public, publishing the details in 1847. Liebig clearly stated of his process that "the benefit of it should ... be placed at the command of as large a number of persons as possible by the extension of the manufacture, and consequently a reduction in the cost." A variety of companies produced small batches of meat extract based on Liebig's ideas, often using his name on their products.
In 1862, George Christian Giebert, a young German railway engineer visiting Europe, read Liebig's Familiar Letters on Chemistry. Convinced that the process could be industrialized, he wrote to Liebig to suggest opening a manufacturing plant in South America. Using the flesh of cattle that, before the popularity of canning or freezing meat, would otherwise have been killed for their hides alone, he hoped to produce meat extract at one third of the European cost. ... In 1865, Giebert offered Liebig a directorship of the company, with an initial cash payment and an annual salary. The Liebig Extract of Meat Company was established on 4 December 1865 in London with a capital of £150,000."
