Last but by no means least, we have glass seals, which were produced often not as one-of-a-kinds (like a family crest might be), but rather for the masses and as such, a scribe might purchase a set of glass seals so that he could offer his customers the use of a seal to secure their correspondence, just like the well-heeled gentry of the time period. And on even rarer occasion a carved sapphire seal comes to light, but these are quite rare and were usually reserved for royalty and/or papal seals. On rare occasion one may come across an intaglio seal carved into mother of pearl, but they are uncommon because mother of pearl is rather fragile. At Seal & Scribe, we rather like the slight feathering on a gem stone seal because it serves as a reminder of the painstaking skills required to carve on to a gem stone, and is another aspect of the provenance of the stone. While one can get a crisp line on gem stone seals, there is often slight feathering on some lines, which no doubt appear because if one were to polish certain areas on a gem stone seal the actual hand-engraved lines would be diminished. The use of certain semi-precious and even precious gem stones is less common than hard stones - no doubt because of their cost - and the most common gem stones used for intaglio seals are of the quartz family: amethyst, citrine, rock crystal, etc. One could get a clear, crisp etching image and text, just as with using metal seals, however the hard stone seal had an added bonus of the coloring of a beautiful stone to enhance the seal itself. Stones such as: carnelian, bloodstone, chalcedony, and agates were most common during the 1700s to 1800s. Hard stone seals tend to use certain stones that are hard enough to provide a good, smooth surface for detailed etching. Such seals were primarily used for seals that required a very high level of detail, such as family crests and coat of arms, royal ciphers, monograms, etc. Engraving into metal would give a seal a very crisp level of detail because etching into metal provides a certain quality of stability and hardness to etch into, and even the smallest of engraving tools can leave crisp, clean lines in the image and text on an all-metal seal. One can find all-metal seals in gold, silver, brass and copper, as well as 'pot' metal which is a mixture of non-precious metals. Metal seals come in a variety of metals that were available during Georgian and Victorian times. Each seal medium has it's own beauty and merits, so let's explore each one on it's own: Wax seal sticks £1.50 ea.Intaglio seals come in four basic mediums: all metal, hard stones, gem stones, and glass. There will be 600 available from The Medical society during Ghost Week ( if our foundry in Sheffield meets the demand ) and a further 600 sold online from a release later in November - date to be announced. Seals would also allow the recipient to identify prior to opening who the sender was by the design of the seal.Įdition size -1200. The recipient would know if the communication had been viewed because the seal had to be broken to see its contents. Written material would be sealed & stampted to be enclosed & private. Seals were most popular in the Georgian and Victorian era, when the art of handwritten correspondence was at its most prevalent. Intaglio seals have been used since Egyptian times, an intaglio seal is a 'stamp' of sorts that is used to secure all types of hand-written communication. Please note that the marks & imperfections are part of this process and product, bronze also tarnishes which is normal. They are hand made and bear the marks of the oldest known casting process, the finish is intended to look like an object from a bygone era and not a modern counterpart. We have used an ancient “lost wax” method to produce them. This is our first Little Ghost made as a Black Box Edition, it is 5cm and solid cast bronze, on the base are the inverted crossed torches chased in negative to form the Intaglio Seal for forming the impression in hot wax. The Black Box Edition Intaglio Seal Ghost will be available to purchase at the Medical Society ( not from the shop on the Shambles ). There will be a screening each hour at 11am, 12pm, 1pm, 2pm, 3pm and 4pm every day, including Sunday 30th. The film lasts 24 minutes and is free to view, tickets are not required but there might be a wait to view at peak times. There is a waiting room for the next screening if we are at full capacity. The Lecture Theatre built in 1870 will be our screening room and seats 58. The Society is located down an alley off the south side of Stonegate, it is shown on our Ghost Week map. Our short film entitled “The Intaglio Seal” opens tomorrow at the Medical Society.
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