There is a card index of seals held at The National Archives. Great seal of Richard I, from 1189 (catalogue reference: DL 10/42) You can search for seals by matching your search terms to these descriptions. Each listing in our catalogue contain a description of the design of the seal, for example ‘lion sleeping facing right with four bushes above’ (from the description for DL 25/1336/1067). Search by name, place or descriptive keyword. The seals from DL 25 and DL 26 are mostly personal seals but there are also: This is a search in series DL 25 and DL 26.

Search our catalogue using the search box below to locate over 3,000 digitised images of 2,500 seals from the 12th to the 18th century. They can be used in conjunction with the seals card index to identify seals in The National Archives’ collection. the reference of the parent document from which the seal mould was taken (which you can use to request to view the original at The National Archives).seal owner(s), both individuals and corporate bodies.

The document downloads provide both a high resolution digital image of a surviving mould, like the image shown on the left, and information about: Search PRO 23 by name of the seal owner or by broad category.Īn image from the Seal Moulds Database (catalogue reference: PRO 23/2361) You can now see and download images of them for free via our catalogue. These were created by the Repairing/Conservation Department of the former Public Record Office from around 1880 to 1995 but were never formally accessioned. The National Archives holds around 6,500 plaster of Paris and silicone rubber moulds of seals in our collection. Images of seals online 3.1 Seal Moulds Database They can also provide us with valuable information for historical studies of:Ī seal might also help identify and date the document to which it is attached. They speak of authority and legitimacy, and the iconography and legend (around the seal circumference) often suggest something about the status of the owner and how they wanted to be regarded.

Seals can tell us much about a seal owner. They could either be attached to a document by a tag, tongue, cord, or placed directly on the face of the document. Seals were also used literally to ‘seal’ documents, fulfilling the same role today as gum on an envelope. Often bearing their owner’s portrait or coat of arms they were used to authenticate documents (such as charters, letters, writs) in much the same way as we use signatures today. The term seal is usually applied to the impression left by the stamping of an engraved metal die or ‘matrix’ which has been pressed into a material such as wax, but it is also used to refer to the matrix itself. Seal used by Henry of Lancaster, Edward I’s nephew, in 1301 (catalogue reference: E 26/1)

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