My Father's signet ring and a childhood discovery of an old, red stick of sealing wax in one of Granny's draws led to a fascination with sealing wax and the concept of seals. In my early twenties I capitalised on my juvenile martial arts experience took a job working shifts as a security guard for one of Woolworths main Distribution Centre at Dorcan just outside Swindon. One of our responsibilities was sitting in a hut and checking lorries into and out of the site, checking the coded seals on the back of these lorries had not been tampered with in transit, and recording the seal data and checking the lorry cargo.
In this way Woolworths ensured that stock did not go missing in transit, undesirables like thieves did not get into the warehouse and no stock was smuggled out of the warehouse that wasn't supposed to be. I have been saying for months that totally baffles me that old tech like seals are not used more widely to prevent things like weapons, terrorists, ivory and other contraband being ferried around particularly in Europe and Africa. I have repeated this suggestion for years on various conservation and other forums.
I also use the same principle with occasional personal correspondence by reprising an old tradition occasionally sealing letters with my signet ring. (See bottom pic below). Protecting my privacy from prying eyes of undesirables, at least one way. Were protecting your property, intellectual property and privacy it so simple online and elsewhere in life. But that is another story, or several.
In the wake of the Paris attacks it strikes me that blocking the routes for the weapons might have saved a lot of grief