The original Great Seal was commissioned by the Confederate States of America, likely in 1863, from J.S. and A.B. Wyon, London, England, then Chief Engravers of Her Majesty's Seals. Reaching Richmond before the end of the American Civil War, the seal, as reported in the New York Times (21 May 1912), was removed from the city during the evacuation of April 1865 by William J. Bromwell, chief clerk of the Confederate State Department. By 1872, it was in the possession of John T. Pickett, formerly a Colonel in the Confederate army and then a lawyer in Washington D.C. and Thomas O. Selfridge, a U.S. naval officer. Pickett, reportedly, had 100 electrotype copies made, possibly by George Massamore, numismatist of Baltimore. Seventy-five were made of copper and twenty-five of silver over copper. The original seal was returned to Selfridge, who remained in possession of it until he sold it in 1912 to a group of Richmond businessmen. It now resides in Richmond at the Museum of the Confederacy.

One of the copies made for Pickett was presented by him in 1874 to Wyon, the engravers of the original seal, for authentication, as described in the document that accompanies the seal in this collection. The seal itself is one of the silver on copper electrotype copies.