Sealing wax
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[[Image:Cornelis Norbertus Gysbrechts 002.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Letters sealed with sealing wax in a painting by [[Cornelis Norbertus Gysbrechts]] (1665).]]
'''Sealing wax''' is a material which, after melting, quickly hardens (to paper, parchment, ribbons and wire, and other material) forming a bond that cannot be separated without noticeable tampering. Wax is used to verify something such as a document is unopened, to verify the sender's identity, for example with a [[Seal (device) | signet ring]], and as decoration. Sealing wax can be used to take impressions of other [[Seal (device)|seal]]s. It can be used to create a [[hermetic seal]] on containers. Wax was used to seal "[[letters close]]" and later (from about the 16th century) [[envelope]]s. (Before sealing wax, the Romans used bitumen for this purpose.)
Recipes vary, but there is a major shift after European trade with the Indies opened. In the [[Middle Ages]] sealing wax was typically made of [[beeswax]] and "Venice turpentine", a greenish-yellow [[resin]]ous extract of the [[European Larch]] tree. The earliest such wax was uncoloured, somewhat later the wax was coloured red with [[vermilion]]. From the 16th century it instead was compounded from a mixture of various proportions of [[shellac]], [[turpentine]], [[resin]], [[chalk]] or [[plaster]], and colouring matter (often still vermilion, or else [[red lead]]), but not necessarily beeswax. The proportion of chalk varied; coarser grades are used to seal [[wine bottle]]s and [[Jam|preserve]]s, finer grades for documents. In some situations, such as large seals on public documents, beeswax was actually used. On occasion, sealing wax has historically been perfumed by ambergris, musk and other scents. <ref>{{cite book|author=Tomlinson, C., ed.|title=[[Tomlinson's Cyclopaedia of Useful Arts]]|year=1866|publisher=Virtue & Co|location=London}} Vol II, page 495.</ref>
[[Image:waxseal-JP-VII.jpg|200px|left|thumb|Wax seal in a letter, Fonseca Padilla Family Coat of Arms, Jalisco, México.]]
By 1866 many colors were available: gold (using mica), blue (using [[smalt]] or verditer), black (using [[lamp black]]), white (using [[lead white]]), yellow (using trupeth mineral), green (using [[verdigris]]) and so on. Some users such as the British Crown assigned different colours to different types of documents. Today a range of synthetic colours is available.
Sealing wax is available in the form of sticks, sometimes with a wick, or as granules. The stick is melted at one end (but not ignited or blackened), or the granules heated in a spoon, normally using a flame, and then placed where required, usually on the flap of an envelope. While the wax is still soft, the seal (being preferably at the same temperature as the wax, for the best impression) should be quickly pressed into it and released.<ref>{{cite book|author=Tomlinson, C., ed.|title=[[Tomlinson's Cyclopaedia of Useful Arts]]|year=1866|publisher=Virtue & Co|location=London}} Vol II, page 495.</ref>
[[Image:Petrus Christus 004 detail.jpg|thumb|right|220px|This donor portrait of about 1455 shows a large coloured [[Old master print|print]] attached to the wall with sealing wax. [[Petrus Christus]], [[NGA, Washington]]]]
Modern day has brought sealing wax to a new level of use and application.
There are traditional sealing wax candles still produced in France and Scotland, using similar formulas as those in the days of hand-carried correspondence.
Since the advent of a postal system, the use of sealing wax has become more for ceremony than security.
Modern times have required new styles of wax to be created, allowing for mailing of the seal without damage or removal.
These new waxes are flexible for mailing and are referred to a glue gun sealing wax, faux sealing wax, and flexible sealing wax.
==References==
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== See also ==
* [[Bulla (seal)]]
* [[Papal bull]]
* [[Tamper-evident]]
== Sources ==
* [http://www.letterseals.com/howtousesewa.html LetterSeals.com] Quoted source for modern sealing waxes.
[[Category:Envelopes]]
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