Antique Desk Wax Seal - John Hughes, First Archbishop of New York

The personal brass & mahogany desk seal of John Hughes, the first Archbishop of New York, circa 1842.

Desk Seal Detail

A substantial, well turned mahogany handle of baluster form and flat top with banded tapering stem to a weighty brass oval matrix; the obverse is engraved with the central shield of office, a cross above under a Priest's hat, supported by tassles for an archbishop, with a circumscription within a beaded border, reading:

JOANNES HUGHES ARCHIEPISCOPUS NEO EBORACENSIS

and a motto below the shield reading:

CLAUDIT ET APERIT

The seal is of John Hughes, an Irish-born prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who was the first Archbishop of the Archdiocese of New York, between 1842 and his death in 1864.

Desk Seal History

A more detailed history of the life of this highly important church figure, John Hughes, is available at Wikipedia here.  Alternatively, a more detailed account of his time in New York is given here which gives us some idea as to his importance at that time.

Seal Specification

Height: 95mm  (3.74")

Width of matrix: 35mm x 40mm (1.37" x 1.57")

Weight: 224g (7.90oz)