American Silver Eagle otherwise—it was revived for the Silver Eagle decades later. The obverse is inscribed with the year of minting or issuance, the word "LIBERTY", and the phrase "IN GOD WE TRUST". The reverse was designed by John Mercanti and portrays a heraldic eagle behind a shield; the eagle grasps an olive branch in its right talon and arrows in its left talon, echoing the Great Seal of the United States; above the eagle are thirteen five-pointed stars representing the Thirteen Colonies. The reverse is inscribed with the phrases "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA", "1 OZ. FINE SILVER~ONE DOLLAR", and "E PLURIBUS UNUM"
Great Seal of the Realm held the seal only until 1656, when Cromwell nominated William Steele, Chief Baron of the Court of Exchequer in England, Lord Chancellor of Ireland. In 1688, while attempting to flee to France, James II destroyed his Great Seal, apparently by throwing it into the River Thames in the hope that the machinery of government would cease to function. James's successors, William III and Mary II, used the same seal matrix in their new Great Seal. This may have been a deliberate choice, in order to imply the continuity of government. A new obverse was created, but the reverse was crudely