Sealing wax
Sealing wax is a wax used to seal letters and documents. When melted, it hardens quickly to form a seal that’s hard to tamper with. It helps show if something is unopened, identifies the sender, and can be decorative. It can also take impressions of other seals.
Historically, the Romans used bitumen for sealing. In the Middle Ages, sealing wax was usually beeswax with Venice turpentine. It started uncolored, then later became red with vermilion. From the 1500s, recipes added shellac, resin, chalk or plaster, and more coloring. Chalk amounts varied: coarser wax for wine and fruit jars, finer for documents. Large public seals sometimes used beeswax. Wax was sometimes scented with ambergris or musk.
By 1866 many colors were available, including gold, blue, black, white, yellow, and green. Some users, like the British Crown, used different colors for different documents. Today synthetic colors are common.
Sealing wax comes as sticks (sometimes with a wick) or granules. A stick end is melted (not lit) or granules heated in a spoon, then placed on the surface. A seal is pressed into the melted wax while warm and removed.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, sealing wax was used in laboratories as a vacuum cement, later replaced by other materials. With postal systems, sealing wax became more ceremonial than secure. Modern waxes include flexible and mailing-friendly types like glue-gun sealing wax and faux sealing wax.
Traditional sealing wax candles are still made in Canada, Spain, Mexico, France, Italy, and Scotland, with formulations similar to historical ones.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 21:50 (CET).