Happy Hallowe'en & Museum Monday

1790-1800 Gold & Chalcedony Letter Seal 656.2012.30

 Happy Hallowe'en! The children carved their punkins yesterday...can you tell which one is Pip's????...Hers is the one on the left, carved with a 'heart, 2 Bake', and a three tier cake...lol! 

Befitting the day, today's Museum Monday number I picked~ 656.2012.30, which is one of my favorite letter seals,  and the one I use for all my Hallowe'en correspondence.

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 I love early letter seals~ each one shows the character of its once owner, to be sure! This one is by far my favorite, and is of a witch on her broom with a wooden spoon in her hand. The stone is a clear chalcedony set in gold, completely hand carved.  If you have bought a dollye or a padded mirror case or the like from me, and received a letter, it has been sealed with an antique seal from the collection.

 Real sealing wax is different than candle wax~ it doesn't crumble when dry, nor does it have oily paraffin in it that soaks into the paper. I never use the 'fake' sealing wax that is nothing more than a colored hot glue stick. One just needs a few drops to seal a letter, and a stick literally can last me years....and I use them alot!

 The seal is pressed into the hot wax with a short pause.....

And then taken up to reveal the impression....I usually like to use red wax for my letters, but during the Hallowe'en season...only black will do for this witchy ladye!