Great Seal of the United States include a more vigorous and uncrested eagle, the removal of the acanthus leaves, a general crowding of the design upward, a different shape to the shield, and fruit on the olive branch (four olives). The seal was 2 1/8 inches in diameter. In 1866, the first counterdie was made, which is the same design in opposite relief. The paper was placed between the die and counterdie, resulting in a sharper impression in the paper than from one die alone. The use of counterdies continues to this day. [[File:US Great Seal 1877 drawing.png|thumb|1877 die design]] The [[United States Centennial]] in 1876
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