Things worth knowing before placing an order
Copies of original seals or custom seals made on request from sent drawings.
In Middle Ages the seals were used by people from different social class. They were used by both - men and women.
Those less wealthy used universal seals without personal inscription, usually of smaller size (about 15mm) than personal seals (20-30 mm). Larger seals was owned by influential persons, princes and kings.
An example of a universal seal. In this case a reather humorous (?) one depicting a squirrel and an "I CRAKE NOITS" inscription.
One of the most common inscription on universal ready-made seals is a SIGILLUM SECRETI ( Secret Seal ) or PRIV SU ( I am private ). Also a large number of stamps have inscriptions JE SU SELL DAMUR LEL ( I am the seal of true love ) or LEL AVET AMI ( You have a loyal friend ).
The seals where usually round but there are also examples of oval, hexagonal or shield shaped.
Most of the personal seals inscription start with a word SIGILLUM which means "The seal of" in Latin. But this word was often shortened to SIGIL, SIG, or even S.
The owner Christian name normally follows this. And after that a word FIL. which stands for FILLUS- "the son of', or FILLIA - "The daughter of" and the name of the parent. For example S RICARDI. FIL. WILLELMI - "The seal of Richard son of William".
On tghe left an exmpample of an almond shaped seal, on the right a seal with "SIGIL INGRITHE FILE ROG" inscription.
The seals with a surname of home-town or a profession instead of a parent name where also found.
Price
Pricing a custom wax seal is often an individual process, however you can find an example price of "standard" seal:
- The price of standard seal like the one shown in finished projects below is 120 EUR
- This is the price of the seal up to 3cm diameter with inscription and a center sign, made of bronze.
- For a complex designs and larger seals the price would be higher.
- There is an option to have the stamp made in silver and with silver or gold gilding.
Info needed to make a custom seal
- a project of a seal (a drawing or photo) or the seals impression in wax
- Matrix shape if you have already an idea for it, if not I will provide some examples.
On the left a drawing which was delivered by a client, on the right a photo of the wax impression.
Finished projects
Below there are photos from various seal projects I have been doing.
Please click the images to see more detailed shots.
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