Christ is depicted on one side. To the left and right are the initials ΙC-XC (Jesus Christ). The other side bears the emperor Michael VIII Palaeologos wearing the imperial vestments, holding a labarum-headed sceptre and a globus cruciger. The hand of God is seen emerging in the background, on the upper right. Left and right in vertical arrangement is the inscription “Despot Michael Palaeologus”.

The seal belongs to the emperor that his name was associated to the restoration of the empire in 1261, after the Latin conquest in 1204. It belongs to the seals issued by the emperor of Nicaea and in the years that Michael VIII secured his succession to the Byzantine throne.