1973 Silver Copy of the Penns of Pennsylvania Seal 1775-1776?

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IOHN PENN JUN^r & IN^o PENN ^. PROPRIE^rs & GOVERNR^s OF PENNSYLV^{ia .}

The seal of John Penn Junior("of Stoke") & John Penn(Governor)

Silver electrotype copy of their seal, hallmarked for London 1973 by BJS.

39x10mm suede leather backed.

The original seal might have only been used from 1775-1776. Can find no info for its continuing use after 1776. Hopefully I can find some more info about the seal.

These 2 gentlemen, cousins, were grandsons of William Penn.

John Jr.(1760-1834) was the chief proprietor of the Province of Pennsylvania as of 1775. He lived in Philadelphia for 5 years after the revolution(1783-1788) returning to Great Britain in 1789 with 3/4 of the 130,000GBP compensation for the loss of the Proprietorship. His cousin John Penn(governor) received a 1/4 of the compensation. John Penn(governor) was twice governor of Pennsylvania 1766-1771 and 1773-1776. In 1789 the English Parliament awarded the Penn cousins a total of £4,000 per year in perpetuity. John Penn of Stoke stayed in England but John Penn governor returned to America and was buried under the floor of Christ Church Philadelphia.

July 1,1790, the board having been desirous of disposing of the lot on Chestnut Street given by the late proprietaries of Pennsylvania, intimation, by the desire of the board, was made to their descendants, John Penn and John Penn, Jr., by one of the directors, which produced a letter to their agent, Anthony Butler, of which the following is a copy, and the original is permitted to be kept for such purposes as may 'hereafter become necessary:

"London, April 7, 1790

"Sir,—Understanding that the Library Company of Philadelphia intend to fix upon the different place for the Building of a Library, as a more convenient Situation than the lot near ninth street, we beg to intimate to you our compliance with their requisition, made through Doctor Parke, for power to sell that Lot. You may therefore considera any mode which you together agree on the expediency of for confirming their Title as having the Sanction of our Joint Consent We are, Sir, with regard,

"Your obedient huml Servts.

" John Penn

" John Penn, Junr.

"Anthony Butler, Esquire."

 

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Interesting info and nice piece.

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BJS the company that made the silver electrotype copy is still in business, It was founded in 1945 by Benjamin Lewis.

In 1992, BJS was recognised by HM Queen Elizabeth II in the granting of a unique Royal Warrant for its services as Electroformers, Electroplaters and Silversmiths.

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The seal is one of the following;

A. The Lesser Seal of Pennsylvania. (found upon the laws, decisions of the Supreme Court, and less important executive and judicial papers)
B. The Seal of Arms. (used on summons to the Assembly and orders to provincial officials)
C. Joint personal seal of the two Johns.

Most likely 'C' as it is missing "Mercy" & "Justice", regardless it could only have been used 1775-1776.

 

After this date they each appear to have used their own individual seals, which each had there own image. When they both signed a document they each signed it by pen and attached their individual seals(see below for image)

Before the Revolution Pennsylvania used 3 seals, a Great Seal, a Lesser Seal, these both had the names of the current Governor & Proprietors these used the same basic design the Great Seal being larger & more ornate, plus a Seal of Arms, which was based on the Governor's personal Arms, when a Proprietor or Governor changed the Seals all had to be changed too.

After 1776 the Revolution put an end to all this changeability as the Provincial Seals were replaced by a new State Seal which were passed on from administration to administration without change, just one design for both the Great & the Lesser Seals, they differing only in size, & the Seal of Arms was abandoned.

As the seals below show, when John Penn("The American", son of William) died in 1746 'JOHN' was just erased from the Great & Lesser Seals.




Here is both the Johns' signatures & personal seals on a document from 1785.