Unlocking History Number (UH#)

UH0042


Original

Queen Elizabeth I of England, Triangle Lock-O


Model and research notes

MIT Libraries, Unlocking History Research Group, MC0760, Box 16.


Letterlocking Unique Video Number(s) (LUV #s) & Instructional Video(s) URL

LUV042 https://youtu.be/o0XOxS0ZQWI 



Instructional video info transcription

Forthcoming


Letterlocking category Number (LC #)

LC15L   


Letterlocking format Number (LF #)

4RW


Security score

Low


Assessment of Confidence in assigning LC#

Attested


Substrate

Paper


Dimensions

Opened: H: 307mm x W: 205mm        

Letterpacket: H: 78mm x W: 102mm


Manifestation

Opened


Distinctive letterlocking style(s)

Triangle lock-O


Locking Mechanism

Lock


Security enhancements

Address written across lock 

Authenticated covered seal

Cross-hatching

Fake security

Hatching

Matching ink color

Matching handwriting

Matching lock with paper from which it was cut


Letterlocking category formula (shorthand)

LC15         

Fold + slit/hole + lock-O + adhere (F + S/H/ +  LO + A)


Letterlocking manipulation sequence (shorthand)

Fold + fold + fold + fold +fold + fold + slit + lock-O + adhere


Locking instructions

Forthcoming


Images 

Forthcoming


Foldable(s)

Forthcoming


Step-by-steps 

Forthcoming


Substrate map

Forthcoming


Virtual unfolding results

NA


Manipulations

Writing: Margin folds

Postal: NA

Opening: Seal tears 

Filing (Storage, Display): Sewing holes

Repair: Mends


Damage

Tears


Features

Radiating wrinkles

Wrinkles


Article(s)

2023. Daniel Starza Smith & Jana Dambrogio. Letterlocking: securing correspondence before envelopes in Routledge Encyclopedia of the Renaissance World. Lauren Shohet, subject editor. 


Book 

Jana Dambrogio, Daniel Starza Smith, and the Unlocking History Research Group. Letterlocking, The Hidden History of the Letter. Cambridge and London: MIT Press, 2025.


Citation for the letter(s)

UH0042

Original

Elizabeth I’s letter to Sir Ralph Sadler (31 October 1584), the British Library, Add MS 89293, fols. 7r-8v.


Model

MIT Libraries, Unlocking History Research Group archive, MC0760, Box 16.


Video

LUV042

Jana Dambrogio and the Unlocking History Research Group. "Queen Elizabeth I of England, Triangle Lock (1584)," Letterlocking Instructional Videos. Unlocking History number 0042/Letterlocking Unique Video number: 0042. Filmed: December 2015. Duration: 4:25. Posted: March 2016. URL: https://youtu.be/o0XOxS0ZQWI. Accessed: March 4, 2025.