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A household's sign of ownership.
Also known as: Hausmarke, Property mark, Family mark
The inherited mark by which a household identified its property, boundaries and documents.
Identifies property, boundaries and signatures as belonging to a particular household.
Contexts: History
Inherited and modified by descent: a son's mark added a stroke to his father's, so a set of related marks records a family tree in a way no single mark could.
Contexts: History
Served as a signature for people who could not write, and was accepted as one on legal documents across northern Europe for centuries.
Contexts: History
A figure of straight strokes, typically a vertical staff crossed by two or three angled lines, cut or branded on tools, timber, boundary stones and livestock.