Seal of company
The seal of a company is the formal instrument: conventionally round, carrying the registered name exactly as filed, usually the registration number, and historically used to execute deeds and share certificates. It is not the same object as the company stamp, which is the everyday mark that goes on invoices and letters. Most companies use the stamp daily and the seal a handful of times a year.
Templates you can start from
How to make it
- Put the registered name on the ring, exactly as it appears on the filing.
- Add the registration number and, where it is the convention, the year.
- Add COMMON SEAL or the equivalent wording if your jurisdiction expects it.
- Keep the centre sparse. A seal is not a letterhead.
What you get
- Registered name curved around the ring
- Registration number and year of incorporation
- Triple ring, milled and scalloped borders
- A centre for a crest, a monogram or nothing
Stamp or seal, and why the difference is not pedantry
A company stamp says which company handled the document. A company seal says the company executed it. Some jurisdictions still require a seal on particular instruments and many no longer do: the UK made it optional in 2006 and several followed, while across much of Africa, South Asia, the Gulf and East Asia it is still expected on commercial contracts. The practical consequence is that using the everyday stamp where a seal is required can get a document refused, and the registry receiving it is the only reliable authority on which it wants.
Questions
Does the registered number have to be on it?
Not everywhere, but it is the element that makes the seal identify one company rather than any company with a similar name, so it is usually worth including even where it is optional.
Can the trading name be used instead?
On the everyday stamp, often yes. On the seal, no: use the name exactly as registered. A seal reading "Estamplab Trading" for "Estamplab Trading Limited" invites the objection you made it to avoid.
Estamplab is a design tool. This page describes common commercial practice rather than giving legal advice, and practice changes. Where a specific document matters, check the requirement with the body receiving it. Only produce a mark your own organisation or your own credentials are entitled to use.