Seal of the Vice President of the United States shield is the same, the eagle's wings are more outstretched, with the wing tips pointing slightly down ("inverted", in heraldic terms). The eagle's right talon holds an olive branch, though with fewer leaves and berries than the depiction used in the 1945 Presidential seal, and the left talon holds a single arrow (rather than the 13 specified in both the Presidential and Great Seals). While the 1945 presidential seal added a ring of 48 stars around the eagle (representing the states), a ring of 13 stars (representing the original 13 colonies) was added to the 1948 vice presidential seal. The
Lord Keeper of the Great Seal from England. Consequently, it became not unusual to place the personal custody of the great seal in the hands of a "vice-chancellor" or "keeper"; this, too, was the practice followed during a temporary vacancy in the chancellorship. This office gradually developed into a permanent appointment, and the lord keeper acquired the right of discharging all the duties connected with the great seal. He was usually, though not necessarily, a peer, and held office during the king's pleasure, he was appointed merely by delivery of the seal, and not, like the chancellor, by patent. His status was definitely fixed (in the