Civil Censorship Study Group

Wax seal censor devices tend to be on the scarce to rare side, relative to other types of censor devices. In the first place, they were used almost exclusively on registered mail -- much less common than regular letter mail. In the second, the wax was relatively expensive, messy and, in some cases, may have been used up with little practical chance of re-supply, long before the event giving rise to censorship ended. In the third, wax is relatively fragile; wax seals can be (and sadly often have been) destroyed while all the underlying elements of the cover on which they were placed survive.

In my survey exhibit shown on this site I show a small number of wax seals. Over time I will be listing and illustrating here, by country-event (e.g., GB WWI, India WWII) all of the civil censorship wax seals owned by or reported to me. Other collectors are more than welcome to add their material here, either directly or through me. It would be wonderful to have a database of these devices, so reports of "duplicate" devices are also welcome. If/when such a database emerges, I hope to be able to add it to this forum.

Hello Dann

I saw this when I was posting about the WWI Karachi Passed Censor mark.

I should be having about 80-90% of all WWII India seals. Also the document from National archives , London DEFE 1/!44A in which all the seals referred as ( ref.8) in Konrad's handbook are listed in colour.

I will send the scans to you during the month of November in batches so that you organise and post.

Regards
Viswa