The Hermitage Museum houses over seven hundred pendent leaden seals dating from the 10th to the 15th century. The bulk of them entered the Hermitage Museum with Academician N.P. Likhachev’s collection, which had been formed mainly on the basis of finds at the old city excavation site in Novgorod. Subsequently, the Hermitage collection was further enriched through acquiring leaden seals by the Purchasing Commission and through gifts from private individuals, as well as finds by the Museum’s archaeological expeditions.
The Hermitage holds also a collection of medieval commercial leaden seals that totals over 5,5 thousand items.
