One seal has an ivory handle; the hardstone matrix engraved with a marquess’s coronet.
One has a facetted hardstone handle; the silver-gilt matrix engraved with the letter B beneath a coronet.
One is on a gold fob; the hardstone matrix engraved with the Exeter crest.
Such seals would be applied to melted sealing wax to secure an envelope, as illustrated on the reverse of the envelope shown, which was sent to the Marquess of Exeter by Queen Victoria in March 1852.
At this time, and indeed well into the 20th Century, one could send a letter in the morning and receive a reply in the afternoon; impromptu get-togethers were just as possible then as they are today in our modern technological world!
