This 19th-century wax seal travel set was used in the 19th Century to close personal letters with hot wax. This set offered ready-to-use seals with several apt, often humorous, mottos that could be selected depending on the content or receiver of that specific letter.
This partially gilded brass case has been intricately worked on all four sides. Two sides depict Cupid's quiver and arrow, one side has an empty cartouche, and the last side shows a cartouche with the portrait of Ovid, the most famous Roman writer.
Inside are eightteen brass double-sided seals, giving 36 mottoes to use in total, mostly in French but with a few English mottos too. These are:
- An envelope: 'Allez heureuse'! / A quill: 'Toujours Sincere'.
- A horse: ‘Je suis libre’ / ‘Mardi’.
- A ship in stormy waters: 'Telle est la vie' / A dog and column: ‘Le temps passe l’amitie reste’.
- A swallow: ‘Le froid me chasse’ / ‘Lundi’.
- A running dog: 'Je suis pressé' / A fox and a stork with his beak in a tall jar: 'Chacun son tour'.
- Cupid riding/taming the devil / a running dog, carrying a letter: 'Va Vite'
- A Pelican feeding her young with her own blood: 'Pour les Miens' / Samedi.
- A hunting dog / ‘La mort n’est rien l'oubli c'est tout’
- Two clasped hands: l’amitie’ / ‘Vendredi’.
- A bird flying from its cage: 'Qui me Neglige, me Perd' / a race between two horses: 'Lequel?'.
- A pocket watch: 'Calme au Dehors, Agitée au Dedans' / a razor: I’ll never cut you, use me well’.
- A withered rose: ‘Fletrie avant le temps’ / ‘Semper’.
- A clinging vine on a tree stump: ‘Il me faut un appui’.
- A harlequin: 'Toujours Gai’ / ‘Mercredi’.
- An oil lamp: ‘Je meurs si j’on mouille’ / A tiger caught in a net: ‘Avec la temps’
- The love, hope and faith symbol / ‘Dimanche’.
- A heart: ‘Je me suis pas gai si tu este triste’ / ‘Lundi’.
- Cupid: ‘L'amitie est l'amour sans ailes’ / A mountain landscape: ‘calme au sein des orages’.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Size: 62 x 16 x 15 mm. Each seal measures 10 x 8 mm.
Weight: 34.30 grams
Age: 19th Century, circa 1840s.
Material: Brass.
Condition: In good antique condition with only minor signs of wear, consistent with its age. All seals are in good condition, some appear to have been barely used, while others show signs of wear.