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Seal of Seattle

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 26, 2026
Entity authorityQ7440578 ↗
Source-derived summary

The Seal of the City of Seattle consists of an artist's profile portrait of Chief Seattle under which appears the Arabic numerals 1869, the year of Seattle's incorporation in the Common Era. It is surrounded by two circles. The words Corporate Seal Of The are at the top within the outer circle, and the words City of Seattle are at the top within the inner circle.

The original seal was designed by James A. Wehn and cast by Richard Fuller and was adopted by the Seattle City Council in 1937. Previous to its adoption in 1937, the city had used a notary type seal.

Over time the seal has gone through many updates and re-design efforts. The original seal was re-designed and replaced in 1974 with a more simplified design as part of Seattle's larger branding effort. The seal was again re-designed in the 1980s and then in the 1990s to match the adoption of the Seattle City logo. The current official design features two cones from an evergreen tree and what appear to be two salmon beneath the portrait. The Corporate Seal of the City of Seattle is distinct from the official Seattle City Logo.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Seal of Seattle” as open-knowledge reference entry. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Seal, Seattle and Open-knowledge.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1869, 1937, 1974—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Seal, Seattle and Open-knowledge providing the first useful test.
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A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Seal of Seattle”, the useful work is to connect “open-knowledge reference entry” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7440578. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1869, 1937 and 1974.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Seal of Seattle” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.