Brass kahal seal from Świsłocz near Wołkowysk from the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. The seal image on the piston is carved and concave. The stamp field is divided by transverse lines into three parts. The upper one is filled with an architectural motif in the form of a pedestal crowned by a sphere and surrounded by a low fence. In the middle and lower parts are inscriptions in Hebrew and Polish: "Seal of the kahal. Świslocky". As there were two towns with the same name in pre-partition Poland, the architectural motif was the basis for identifying the monument's place of origin. According to information in Słownik Geograficznego Królestwa Polskiego(Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland) and Przewodnik ilustrowany po województwie białostockim(Illustrated Guide to the Białystok Province), there was a memorial column in the middle of Świsłocza in the Wołkowysk district, resembling the one depicted on the described exhibit.
Kahal seals, used for authenticating Jewish community documents, were present in Poland since the 16th century, but there are few that contain a secular architectural object. They most often depicted objects and symbols associated with Judaism, such as the Star of David, the date palm, the jug for ritual handwashing (in Hebrew: natla), lions, birds, hands in a blessing gesture, etc. The presence of a secular obelisk, standing in the town square, may have been indicative of the importance of the site to the inhabitants of Świsłocz. The Museum in Tykocin acquired the kahal seal in 1986 from a private individual from Gródek near Białystok, where it was probably found (E. Wroczyńska, Pieczęć Kahału Żydowskiego w Świsłoczy k. Wołkowyska w zbiorach Muzeum w Tykocinie, "Rocznik Białostocki", 18, 1993, pp. 456-459, https://bg.uwb.edu.pl/pcr/RB/files/RB18_030.pdf, access: 5 November 2021].
