Signet Matrix: Seal Matrix featuring Plough, with inscription

An octagonal clear white glass signet matrix, dating from c 1800. The matrix bears a plough design, with an inscription which reads ‘SPEED THE [PLOUGH]’.

Seal matrices also known as signet matrices were used to impress their owner’s mark into wax on documents during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Many were made of moulded translucent glass. Little is known of their manufacture. They seem to have been produced for personal rather than commercial use. Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery acquired a collection of twenty-seven seal matrices in 1934. This is one of the items.