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Sealing wax seals
Sealing wax seals
At the turn of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries a new material, Spanish wax, better known as sealing wax, appeared.
Sealing wax is compounded of various ingredients that are listed in many eighteenth and nineteenth-century recipes. The main ingredients are shellac, a substance secreted by insects found in certain trees, mixed with turpentine and resin, and fluidising agents such as oil and vinegar.
Traditional procedures used different amounts of the components depending on the type of paste desired. Standard pigments were still added to colour the amalgam, cinnabar being most commonly used for red wax.
Initially sealing wax was used to make small impressions to seal private letters as it is much more fragile than the waxy compound normally utilised for larger seals. Nonetheless, sealing wax, especially red sealing wax, is much shinier and more vibrant and the matrix produces a sharp and clear-cut impression.
From the second half of the seventeenth century onwards, sealing wax impressions became more and more common. Originally they were red, but later black and green seals appeared. Sealing wax is still used today but no longer conveys its traditional meaning.
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