Several receipts from Philadelpheia, drawn up ca. 250 B.C., have come down to us with their seals. They all belong to the well-known archive of Zenon (25).  In the cases where Egyptians are involved, the receipt was often not only written twice in Greek, but also once in demotic, presumably so that the Egyptian workmen would understand what had been written down (26).  The upper Greek version was considered the scriptura interior and, therefore, sealed.

Most of these are receipts in which workmen acknowledge to have received their salary. After the sealing of the scriptura interior, the workmen put their impression in the clay and the receipt was given to the employer as proof that he had paid their salary. Pap.Lugd.Bat. XX 3 [see List No. 45], for instance, is a receipt proving that the Greek landowner had paid salary to three Egyptian wine-growers. The upper Greek text is sealed with three seals, obviously those of the three Egyptian wine-growers. Other receipts for the payment of only one Egyptian or Greek workman bear just one seal with, again, an impression made by the workman himself [see List Nos. 46-53].

In other receipts officials acknowledge that someone has paid his taxes. In these cases, the seals were impressed by the officials and the taxpayer got the receipt as proof of his payment. As to Pap.Lugd.Bat. XX 1 [see List No. 44], a third person has sealed the scriptura interior: the taxpayer himself or the Egyptian town scribe, who had written the demotic text.

Besides the above-mentioned texts of the Zenon archive, there are five more receipts on which seals have been preserved: two from the Fayum, one from Thebes and two from Memphis. The Theban bank receipt No. 56 is sealed with a single seal, doubtless that of the banker himself. The two other officials present at the transaction as well as the payer did not seal the receipt. The taxpayer got the receipt as proof of his payment. The sealing-practice in the Memphis and Fayum receipts is somewhat different. The bank receipts Nos. 54 and 55 from the Fayum had their scriptura interior sealed with two seals, most probably those of the two persons present at the transaction: the payer and the recipient. A deputy of the banker in Memphis wrote two Greek receipts for a Greek woman called Zois [see List Nos. 57-58]. The scriptura interior of the first was sealed with three fine seals [see Plates]. According to the receipt, three persons were present when it was drawn up: the deputy of the banker, an assistant and the payer Zois. The three seals, bearing Hellenistic images, must belong to those three Greek persons [see List No. 57]. From the other receipt for Zois only one of the three seals has survived [see List No. 58]. It has the same impression as one of the seals on the first receipt [see List No. 57 seal b]. This is not surprising, as two of the three persons present at the transaction are the same as in the first receipt: the assistant Chrysippos and the payer Zois. The deputy of the banker is a different person than in the first receipt, but as both deputies act on behalf of the same banker Herakleides, they may well have used the same signet ring.

The double receipts between individuals, all belonging to the Zenon archive, are called "sealed private contracts in duplicate" (suvmbola dipla~ ejsfragismevna) (27),  those issued by or to the government are probably "sealed contracts in duplicate" (suggrafai; diplai~ ejsfragismevnai) (28).  The Revenue Laws of the third century B.C. stipulated that the latter had to be "sealed, as the law requires" (29),  apparently by both parties, government representatives as well as the private persons involved (30).  This is confirmed by most of the governmental receipts that still have their seals [see List Nos. 44, 54-55, 57-58; exceptions: 52 and 56]. Those exchanged between individuals are always sealed by only one contracting party [see List Nos. 45-51] (31).