Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-07-06
SEALS AND WAX.
The Revival of an Old Fashion and What
1t Leads To.


% lively trade in the manufacture OF
seals has recently been developed, said
prominent stationer. Z" A complete outfit,
such as has been made and offered for sale
for two or three months past by local deal
ers, consists of silver tray, oxydized or
polished, of unique designs, hammered or
plain, with matchbox to fit, a little bundle
of adamantine tapers two and halt inches
in length. half dozen sticks of the wax in
as many hues and colors, and pretty box
to hold them and the little silver spirit lamp
which liquifies the sealing material. The
seal is not included, except in certain COM
plicated bronze or silver pattern, such as
| lizard or alligator designs. If the material
is solid silver the outfit is worth all the way
from $40 to $50. A very fashionable and
| equally ugly plated sort can be purchased
| for Sl5 Lately, to meet the demand which
has spread to the less fashionable portion
of society, a cheap outfit costing but 10
| cents, has been made consisting of neat
| pasteboard box containing the same artl-
| cles.
! The seal most used is German text
| initial placed upon a fiat field and inclosed
! in plain concentric circles or surrounded
| BY a criss-cross tinting. Some ladies ex-
| ceedingly democratic in their notions use
| an English initial. Others have two or
| three letter monograms. Crests are very
fashionable. Notices surmounted by the
armorial crest of the family are correct In
taste, and more extensively ordered now
than six months ago. After the circle the
| shield is the outline most frequently called
| for. The dealers are often asked to select
designs for purchasers. A lady who boasts
of a great pedigree recently asked Chest
nut street clerk to assist her. Picking up
| Burke's Heraldry he turned to the given
name and showed his customer a coat-of-
arms which he thought fitted her ancestry.
| Looking at it an instant, she said:
I'd like that real WE'LL believe IL
| order one. But can't you put an alligator
or easel or something that is all the rage
now into that vacant spot in the corner of
the shield? 1t would help fill up, you
know
This" continued the stationer lis a
sample OF the mushroom element idea OF
armorial sealing. A lady said recently, in
ordering costly seal;
Il don care much what it is, so that 1t
B i E9od-si'ed and more stylish than Mrs
The design which was given her was
fearfully and wonderfully made. American
flags, bald-headed eagles and all the wild
animals to be found in the Zoo were
chucked in promiscuously and conspicu-
ously. The effect was shoddy and salts
factory, but il looked like a circus poster.
| There are about twenty different perfumes
and colors i'll wax, and as many as dozen
| shades of red, from the deepest Indian red
| to the bright scarlet
as there any significance in the color
| employed to seal the letter."
There is. Flirtatons in sealing wax
are the latest racket. The ordinary red
wax signifies business, and is supposed to
| be used only for business letters. Black is,
of course, used r mourning and condo
| lence.. Blue means love. and as we make
| four or five tints of this color each stage of
| the tender passion can be accurately
portrayed When pink is used congratu-
| lation is intended. An invitation to we'd
ding or other festivity is sealed with white
wax Varegated colors are supposed to
show conflicting emotions. Do you know
that thimbles are being utilized to bear
seals? Fact The designs of that sort are
mild just now, but are developing. Well
work the idea up, and think it will become
| fashionable.
THE odors used in the wax are ravish-
ing in their delicacy. The cheaper grades
are as bad as the pomatum of a fiye-cent
barber shop. The perfumery is the ele-
| ment of cost in the wax. a Paris firm
makes the finest imported article. The
perfume of the burning wax fills an ordi-
| nary-sized apartment, and fingers about the
envelope for hours. - Philadelphia Times.