concept
Surguch (Sealing Wax)
sealing wax
also: сургуч
Surguch, the sealing wax melted and stamped onto registered postal packets (five seals were required on a money packet); the story's narrator argues gum-arabic-gummed envelopes had already made the wax's original security purpose obsolete, leaving it, he suggests, as a subsidy to sealing-wax manufacturers.
Reading notes
- My Conversation with the Postmaster §5 сургучным фабрикантам
Surguch (sealing wax) was sold by the stick at shops for exactly this purpose; the narrator's jab that the seals mainly benefit sealing-wax manufacturers turns a bureaucratic requirement into a hidden subsidy.