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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Any Jewelry, post: 6298951, member: 2844&quot;]In those parts of any society where seals were used to seal documents, invoices, or letters of a private or confidential nature, people could hardly impress their peers by having a seal. After all, their peers had them too.</p><p><br /></p><p>Of course, you could try to impress by having a fancy handle, more elaborate or expensive than your neighbours or colleagues had. But that goes for everything that can be &#039;pimped&#039;.</p><p>In general some people wanted a nice handle on their seals because they liked to handle nice things, just like many of us do today. </p><p>As for family crests, some families have them, some don&#039;t. If your family has one, it has to do with your family&#039;s history. In many countries, including my own, family crests have to be registered to be recognized. Faux crests can easily be checked in a country&#039;s register.</p><p><br /></p><p>My grandmother was given a seal with her initials in the 1910s to use for private mail. It was a simple metal seal with a handle made of one of the early plastics (I haven&#039;t tested it). Hardly a status symbol, I&#039;d say.</p><p>She also used a more formal yet equally simple seal to seal the envelopes of invoices. She did the administration for her father&#039;s business and clients wanted their invoices to be confidential, no chance of servants steaming the envelopes to read the content.<img src="styles/default/xenforo/smilies/wink.png" class="mceSmilie" alt=";)" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>The business seal was lost in a fire, but I still have my grandmother&#039;s private seal with her initials.</p><p>I don&#039;t give a hoot who misinterprets its purpose and sneers at it. I know it was used, and I cherish it because she sealed her love letters to my grandfather with it, without any intention other than for them to be private.</p><p><br /></p><p>This is it, apologies for the blurry photos, it is very dark here at the moment.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]418784[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Her initials, partly filled with sealing wax.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]418785[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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