Hi Nicola,
A method I’ve used on some occasions
is to carefully slide a pallet knife under one half of the seal. This will ‘skin’
the paper so that some remains on the under side of the seal whilst not making
a hole in the document. In this way you can open the letter without breaking
the seal. It does rather depend on circumstances, for example if the wax of the
seal has penetrated the paper quite deeply, it can be difficult or impossible to
separate.
Regards to all,
Richard
Richard Nichols
Senior Conservator
Staffordshire & Stoke on Trent Archive
Service
Staffordshire County Council
Staffordshire Record Office
Tel: 01785 278375
Fax: 01785 278384
From:
Nicola Piper [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 20 July 2011 11:27
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Subject: Seals
Dear
all
I
was wondering if anyone had any thoughts/ideas about how to get into a document
that has never been opened and is sealed with an applied shellac seal?
I
lady who has come into the office today is looking through some un-catalogued
material some of which is sealed with the original seal intact. I am a
bit unsure of how to proceed, has anyone else had this problem, and if so do
you have any tips? I am a bit apprehensive about damaging the seals, but
understand that at the same time we need to get into the documents.
Any
help or advice would be much appreciated
Nicola
Piper
Northamptonshire Record
Office
NN4 8BQ
Tel: 01604 762129
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