A mystery has been reawakened by the discovery of... Other dies identical to the Dorsett Seal die that may have belonged to George Washington "E PLURIBUS UNUM" is backwards because dies are etched in reverse. The Dorsett Seal Die surfaced in 1894 – the Pierce Seal Die in 2007. Tentatively called the Pierce Seal die because it was discovered by John Pierce (in Rhode Island), this engraved metallic die is identical to the Dorsett Seal die now in the collection at Mount Vernon, George Washington's home. Evidence suggests that America's first president owned the Dorsett Seal die as well as other versions of the U.S. Seal (story below). Therefore, these dies may be the very first Seal of the President. Both dies are 2 5/16 inches in diameter and 3/8 inches thick. Both dies even have the same flaws, for example, in the area between the arrowheads and wing feathers. (See more views of the Pierce Seal die.) "Great Seal Analyzed at URI Laboratory. A team of scientists and news correspondents crowded into a small laboratory last Friday morning to analyze a rare silver-coated artifact that could be a double of one of the Great Seals of the United States." – University of Rhode Island, Oct. 30, 2007 "The seal was placed under a $250,000 environmental scanning electron microscope... to determine its make-up." – Newport Daily News, Oct. 27, 2007 The Pierce die is silver-plated lead and weighs 12 ounces. Lead is cheaper than bronze, so it might have been a precursor to the Dorsett die which is silver-plated bronze (weighs 8.4 ounces). Neither Mount Vernon nor the State Dept. know for certain the origin or use of the Dorsett Seal die, but the existence of other identical dies suggests a mold was made, so more dies might exist. In November 2007, a third, identical die, has surfaced. It too was found in Rhode Island (by a retired professor at UMass-Dartmouth). John Pierce compared it with his die. Although much darker, its weight and size are the same. John said it felt like the same material. He also noted details: "What's very interesting is that I examined both with a loop and found identical flaws in each... and the same irregularity between the arrows and wing of the Dorsett Die. Having the opportunity to have these side by side and looking with magnification, I could absolutely see that two small marks on the right side between the foot and leg joint of the eagle are a perfect match. Also, a very hard to see line runs parallel to the arrows." The two new dies are a significant find. They are the only previously unknown dies of the Great Seal of the United States to be discovered since 1894, when Mr. Dorsett first brought his die to the U.S. Department of State. All three dies are very similar to the first die of the Great Seal that was engraved in September 1782. The primary difference is the olive branch and arrows are transposed, so the eagle faces the bundle of arrows – unlike the Great Seal whose eagle has always faced the olive branch. The Pierce Seal die the first Great Seal die (1782) Whereas most seals of the federal government were created by statue, the Seal of the President derives from use, custom, and tradition. Its origin, however, remains obscure, and if the early presidents possessed and used a seal, memory and record of it have since been lost. The best clue to the origin of the Seal of the President is the Dorsett Seal die, whose story is told in the official history of the Great Seal, The Eagle and the Shield, excerpted below. From Chapter XVI, "The Seal of the President" pages 409-418, The Eagle and the Shield: A History of the Great Seal of the United States by Richard S. Patterson and Richardson Dougall, Washington, 1976 The Mystery of George Washington and the Dorsett Seal One day in early June 1894 a young man named Palemon Howard Dorsett presented himself at the Department of State and sought out Gaillard Hunt, who recently wrote a brochure titled The Seal of the United States. Dorsett showed Hunt a metal die incised with the arms of the United States that had been handed down in his family from a kinsman who had received it from a nephew of George Washington. Hunt examined the die and noted: "This seal is almost identical with the first seal, cut in 1782... It is cut on the same metal and no other seal is as much like the first seal... It is fair to presume that this seal is contemporaneous with the seal of 1782." (shown above). Hunt took no further interest in the matter. Forty-two years later in 1936, Dorsett wrote a letter to Secretary of State Cordell Hull, saying: "This Seal has been in the possession of the Dorsett family for more than a century. From earliest childhood I recall innumerable occasions when the Seal was under discussion, that my parents invariably stated that it was given to Jim Starr, a nephew of Grandmother Winchester, on my mother's side, by a nephew of General Washington, and that the two young men were very warm personal friends." (See PDF file for detailed family history.) The State Department's Historical Adviser Hunter Miller took a look at Mr. Dorsett's die. Examination showed it to be 2 5/16 inches in diameter and 3/8 of an inch thick, its back a solid flat surface, with no handle or place for attaching one and no evident provision for fixing it in a press. On April 17, 1936, the Division of Chemistry of the Bureau of Standards analyzed a "whisker" of metal taken from the die and reported it to be of "copper and tin" – that is, bronze. Comparison of an impression from the Dorsett seal with one from the Great Seal die of 1782 reveals some striking resemblances. The two are of exactly the same diameter; the encircling ornamental borders are similar; and the general arrangement of the device on the Dorsett seal shows unmistakably that it was copied from that of the seal of 1782. There are differences, however, and at least some of them are improvements. The engraving of the Dorsett seal is more spirited and vigorous. The eagle is a sturdier and livelier bird; its wings are more widely extended – more like those of the eagle on the present Great Seal; its neck and legs are more fully developed; its feathering is more detailed; and the tail shows nine instead of seven feathers – anticipating the nine of the present Great Seal. The Dorsett die differs from the 1782 die in one conspicuous way. The olive branch and bundle of arrows are transposed, so the eagle faces the arrows in its right talon. In this respect it departs from the specifications of the resolution of Congress of June 20, 1782. A similar transposition of olive branch and arrows appears on the reverse of many U.S. coins, from 1796 to 1885. Shown here is the half dime of 1800-1805. It can be said with certainty that at no time was that seal ever used as the Great Seal of the United States. In fact, no impression from the Dorsett seal die has been found anywhere. Searches of printed sources of various kinds, including legislative records, have failed to reveal any further information. Lending credence to the Dorsett story is "An Inventory of Articles at Mount Vernon" prepared shortly after Washington's death in 1799. It includes "In the Iron Chest... 1 Brass engraving of the Arms of the U. States." A record of items sold at Mount Vernon on July 21 & 22, 1802 includes what was described as: "plates arms U.S." Perhaps this refers to that "Brass engraving of the Arms of the U. States." The word "plates," however, is puzzling – both the word itself and its use in the plural. The Dorsett Seal could conceivably be called a plate. Furthermore, the arms of the United States have a reverse, which engraved on another bronze disk would have been reason for use of the plural. Perhaps the Dorsett seal was one of a pair, the reverse of which is now missing. NOTE: The missing seal would not be the reverse (pyramid & eye) side of the Great Seal because only the obverse (eagle) side is considered the coat of arms of the United States. Therefore the "plates arms U.S." possessed by President Washington would be another obverse side. – John D. MacArthur How and why did the Dorsett seal die come into existence, and what purpose was it intended to serve? Lacking facts, one must speculate as to the answers. The transposing of the olive branch and the arrows was certainly intentional. It constituted a "difference" in the heraldic sense of the term that distinguished this seal unmistakably from the Great Seal without obliterating evidence of close relationship to it. Such treatment of coats of arms is not unusual. Comparable "differencing" appears today in the seal of the President of the United States, in the seal of the Department of State, and in a number of other seals used within the Federal Government. In such cases the device of the Great Seal serves as the basic design but is modified in one or more details, thus reflecting both kinship and distinctness. There would have been no point or purpose in Washington's having a seal such as the Dorsett seal until he became President. Thus presumably it was cut after his inauguration in 1789. While he occupied that office it would have been a fitting symbol, as the President's seal is today. The transfer of the arrows, with their military significance, to the eagle's right talon would have been peculiarly appropriate for President Washington, who had previously won fame as Commander in Chief. It seems highly unlikely, however, that Washington commissioned the engraving or purchased the die himself. In the first place, he seems never to have used it; and in the second place, as Miss Meadows points out, "It is contrary to all we know about George Washington that he would have affected such an elaborate seal or device for personal or social reasons." It was simply out of character for him to have bought the Dorsett seal die. This leaves, as the only remaining possibility, the conclusion that Washington received the die as a gift. Such a gift could have come either from an engraver who had cut the die himself or from someone else, who had employed an engraver to cut it. In 1941 Dorsett placed the seal on loan at Mount Vernon. After his death in 1943, his sister changed the loan to an unrestricted gift to the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association. In the absence of further information, the Dorsett seal may be counted as either the immediate predecessor or the earliest example of the seal of the President of the United States. Images courtesy of: Dorsett Seal die – Mount Vernon Ladies' Association 1782 Great Seal die – National Archives 1800 half dime – Ira & Larry Goldberg Coins & Collectibles Great Seal Symbols | Mottoes History | Myths Sightings