The bee stamp comes from a French perfume trademark called "Maison VIOLET". In 1858 this trademark was renamed "Ŕ la Reine des abeilles - Maison Violet" (means something like "at bee's queen"). Many information on their wikipage :
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viole...de_parfum%29I supposed those stamps were to seal the packages which were very expensive. You can also read "loi du 23 juin 1857" which is the first law in France to deal with the trademark rights.