Sealed with a Stamp

Sealed with a Stamp

History of the seal

Purpose:

To keep a letter closed

Ensure if hasn’t been

tampered with

Confirm it was indeed

written by the sender

Time of use:

Old Testament, Middle

Ages, but did not really

take off until the

post-medieval period.

Who used them?

At first they were

used exclusively by monarchs

, bishops, and royal courts for use in issuing official decrees and authenticating

documents

Then gradually

spreading from aristocrats, to monasteries and guilds

for

example, butchers would sign agreements with a seal bearing the image of a hog or cow

)

And eventually

to ordinary freemen by the 13

th

century

Why the seal?

To keep a letter closed.

Travel, emigration and colonization increased

This was before

the British and American postal reforms of the mid-19

th

century

S

ending

a letter was quite expensive; it cost 25 cents

($6.25 today) in

the US to send a letter over 450 miles – quite a sum in those days.

P

ostage

was based on distance and

number of sheets

. An envelope would have counted as an additional sheet – doubling the cost – so letter writers used as much of a single piece of paper as possible and then sealed it shut with wax or paste to avoid the extra expense.

Envelopes

were considered a frivolous luxury.

Passing of the seal

Official Seals of the Crown were often handed over with great ceremony, and in Medieval Times the size and motif of the Seal conveyed an image of the status of it’s

owner

T

he

signet ring of

a dignitary was

frequently kissed by a diplomat or

visitor

as a sign of

loyalty

or

obedience

Destroying the seal

Destroy the seal when:Because seals were symbols of power and were used to authenticate a person’s wishes, they were typically destroyed after the owner died to prevent forgeries.For example, when a Pope dies or retires

“Ring of the Fisherman”

Coming to America

The

first Seal of the United States was created by Benjamin Franklin, John Adams & Thomas Jefferson on July 4th

1776

immediately after the Declaration of Independence was signed. Congress realized the necessity of such a seal for the newly established nation.

Why we stop using Seals?

literacy increased

Postal reforms in the latter half 19

th

century

reduced

the cost of postage and changed their basis from the number of sheets to overall

weight

Envelope were now used.

T

hey

were handmade by stationary clerks, 25 at a time, but

the

envelopes did not include

adhesive, so they still used wax seals

A

utomatic

envelope folding

machines

and

pre-gummed

envelopes

were

developed

Seals became a more personal expression as well as a decorative embellishment.