Wax seal is our eternal love and we’ve been using them on every product packaging since the very first order back in 2014. Wax seals give us feeling of delivering something important and expressing our special attitude to our clients.
But have you ever wondered about what wax seal meant and how it utilized in past?
Here we’ve collected few of cool facts about it, check them all below 🗝️
1. Show Your Manners with Wax Seal
In the early years of the #Victorian era, it was considered impolite to use a huge seal on a letter. Smaller was better; small and glossy was best, so wax seal was a great sign of it’s owners manners.
2. Office Area
Public offices collected big amount of mails in short time. It was common to protect official correspondence with a wax seal, and afterwards recycle the wax. Some offices in France did this in a pretty creative way. They’d gather all the mail into wire containers and steam it. Typically the wax would melt away from the paper and could be collected for further use as sealing sticks.
3. Seeing Red Wax Seal
Close your eye and imagine a very old sealed letter. Exactly what color is the seal? Red, right? Nowadays we have access to lovely variety of colors to choose from, and the Victorians did too, but the most popular color for sealing wax has always been red. This specific is probably because Vermillion was the most prevalent colorant, dating back at least to ancient times.
4. A Cent Saved with Wax Seal
Before the introduction of the postage stamp and Uniform Penny Article in 1840, wax seal was more than merely a pretty way to decorate correspondence. Since nearly all prices depended on the number of pieces of paper used, letters closed up in envelopes cost the double since the envelope added another sheet of thickness. The particular wax seal ensured the letter traveled safely and undisturbed without charging the receiver excessive postage.
5. Poison Pen
Researchers in the UK use medieval wax seals to look for possible situations of forgery and other crimes by examining finger prints and handprints left right on the wax. Industry analysts study seals on documents dating from the 12th to 14th generations, such as business contracts, land sales, and other financial exchanges. These purchases were as important and binding as our contemporary signatures, contracts, and credit advances.
How many of these facts about wax seals were new to you?