1 730 PRE 4/7/1 ROYAL MINT, LONDON, E.1. 20th January, 1923. Dear Carter Preston,
As Engraver of His Majesty's Seals, I have been
instructed to submit designs for a Great Seal for the
new Government of Northern Ireland, and the Committee
appointed by H.M. the King to advise me on such subjects
has suggested that it would be well, in the first place,
to invite the ideas of a select number of artists
interested in this kind of work. The general treatment recommended is; for
the Seal itself, H.M. King Georve V. on horseback, with
His Royal Style and Titles in Latin on the margin; and,
for the counterseal, a strictly heraldic treatment, i.e.
the Royal Arms with an escutcheon over them showing
the Cross of Ulster. The Seal should be circular and
5 in diameter, and the treatment not to be over
elaborate as we think has been the case with the more
recent of the Great Seals of England. I should be glad to lear from you whether
you would be prepared to submit sketches; or, if preferred
Carter Preston Esq. models 2 models for a Seal and Counterseal on these lines. I should
add that the Committee thought that it would be fair to
offer a fee of then guineas to artists who agreed to submit
such a designs. Believe me, Yours sincerely, Robert A Johnson