A signet is a special ring or seal that bears a unique design, used to stamp an official mark into hot wax. For thousands of years, important people used signets to prove that a letter or document was genuinely from them. Before envelopes with glue, you'd fold a letter, drip melted wax on it, and press your signet ring into the wax to create a seal. If someone broke that seal, you'd know the letter had been opened.

Each signet carried a distinctive symbol: perhaps a family crest, coat of arms, or personal emblem. In medieval times, a lord might use his signet to authorize commands to his knights, or a merchant might seal contracts with his signet to make them binding. Breaking someone else's signet seal was considered a serious crime, like forging a signature today.

Signet rings were often passed down through families as treasured heirlooms. The design itself was usually carved in reverse (like a mirror image) so that when pressed into wax, it would appear correctly. Kings and nobles wore their signets constantly, keeping them at their fingertips. Today, some families still own antique signets, though we now simply sign documents with pens instead of pressing rings into wax.