Obverse
The main figure on the obverse (front) of the seal is a Bald Eagle with its wings outstretched ("displayed", in heraldic terms). From the eagle's perspective, it holds a bundle of 13 (referring to the Thirteen Colonies ) arrows in its left talon and an olive branch (with thirteen leaves and thirteen olives) in its right talon, symbolic respectively of war and peace (see Olive Branch Petition ) and a preference for peace. The eagle also has its head turned towards the olive branch, symbolizing again a preference for peace. The eagle clutches the motto " E Pluribus Unum " (Out of many, one) in its beak; over its head there appears a "glory" with thirteen stars on a blue field. The shield the eagle bears on its breast, though sometimes drawn incorrectly, has two main differences from the American flag ; it has no stars on the blue chief (though other arms based on it do; the chief of the arms of the United States Senate shows thirteen, and that sometimes used by the September 11 Commission has fifty mullets on the chief), and unlike the flag the outermost stripes are white, not red, so as not to violate the heraldic rule of "color on color". It is usually blazoned Paly of thirteen argent and gules, a chief azure. This is a technically incorrect blazon under traditional Western heraldic rules, as a shield cannot be paly (vertically striped) of an uneven number; a more proper blazon would be argent, six pallets gules... (six red stripes on a white field). This fact was recognized at the time of its adoption, [1] but the incorrect blazon was chosen and is used to preserve the reference to the thirteen oriinal colonies . Abstract of all elements counting thirteen :
The symbolism of the obverse is obvious—the shield is reminiscent of the national flag, and the Bald Eagle is a well-known national symbol. On July 4 , 1776 , the Continental Congress named a committee to design a great seal for the country. Almost six years and three committees later they still had not agreed on a design. Finally the problem was turned over to Charles Thomson , the secretary of the congress, who merged elements from all three previous attempts. Congress finally approved his integrated design on June 20 , 1782 , still in use today, and had it engraved into brass cylinders ("matrices") about 2.25 inches in diameter. On September 16 , 1782 Thomson used these matrices for the first time, to verify signatures on a document that authorized George Washington to negotiate an exchange of prisoners. Thomson took care of the seal until the Constitution installed a new American Government in 1789 , when he passed it over to the Secretary of State, Thomas Jefferson . He and all following secretaries have been responsible for applying the seal to diplomatic documents. The first matrices of the seal were replaced in 1841 when they became too worn to be effective. There have been a total of seven reengravings of the seal since the original, which is now on display in the National Archives in Washington, D.C. , USA
To order by phone or for more information about this product call 1-877-543-6094
