Written by Acorn Sales Company, manufacturing stamps and seals since 1964 · Reviewed by Holly R, VP of Sales and Marketing at Acorn Sales, against State Superintendent of Weights and Measures, New Jersey Office of Weights and Measures, Division of Consumer Affairs on 22 September 2026 · Updated 22 September 2026
The single most expensive mistake on a New Jersey weighmaster seal is engraving your own job title. The State Superintendent appoints you on a form headed “Application for Appointment as Certified Weighmaster”. The statute that describes your seal says something different. N.J.S.A. 51:1-76: “His name and the words ‘New Jersey’, shall be inscribed on the outer margin and the words ‘public weigher’, in the center thereof.” The words in the center are public weigher. Not certified weighmaster, not public weighmaster. A buyer who reads the appointment letter and orders from it gets a die that does not match the section, and the only fix is a second die.
The rest of the New Jersey position is favorable to a licensee who wants to get it right once. The seal is yours to buy: 51:1-76 provides that “every weighmaster and certified weigher shall, at his own expense, provide himself with a seal”, and the state does not issue, own or reclaim it. It is an embosser, because the statute requires that the seal “shall be impressed upon each weight certificate issued by him” and neither the statute nor N.J.A.C. 13:47E offers an electronic alternative. And the mark carries legal weight: under 51:1-77 a certificate is prima facie evidence of the weights “when so made and properly signed and sealed”.
New Jersey public weighmaster seal requirements at a glance
| Requirement | New Jersey rule | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Seal required | Yes, and the appointee buys it. “Every weighmaster and certified weigher shall, at his own expense, provide himself with a seal.” The state does not issue, own or reclaim it. Under 51:1-77 the certificate is prima facie evidence of the weights when so made and properly signed and sealed. | N.J.S.A. 51:1-76; N.J.S.A. 51:1-77 |
| Required elements | Statutory core: the holder’s name and the words “New Jersey” on the outer margin, and the words “public weigher” in the center. From the Superintendent’s own application: the official number assigned by the State Superintendent, and the letters “S.F.” where the holder is designated to weigh solid fuels. Those last two are required in practice by the regulator’s published form; we could not tie them to the words of 51:1-76 that we read. | N.J.S.A. 51:1-76; New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, Application for Appointment as Certified Weighmaster |
| Size and shape | Not addressed. 51:1-76 fixes the inscription and its layout, an outer margin and a center, which implies a round seal, but states no diameter, dimension or shape, and N.J.A.C. 13:47E contains no seal rule at all. Do not infer a size. | N.J.S.A. 51:1-76; N.J.A.C. 13:47E |
| Device allowed | An embosser. The statute requires that the seal “shall be impressed upon each weight certificate issued by him”, and the Division’s application repeats that it must be impressed upon each weight certificate and, on delivery tickets, impressed over the net weight. No ink or electronic alternative is authorized by anything we read. | N.J.S.A. 51:1-76; New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, Application for Appointment as Certified Weighmaster |
| Signature and date | The statute pairs them with the seal: a certificate is prima facie evidence “when so made and properly signed and sealed”. The State Superintendent prescribes the sole certificate form, which must state the kind of commodity, the number of units, the date of receipt, the name of the owner, agent or consignee, the accurate weight, the method of transportation or vessel, identifying marks and other distinguishing information. | N.J.S.A. 51:1-77 |
| What must be sealed | Each weight certificate. “The seal shall be impressed upon each weight certificate issued by him.” The Division’s application adds that on delivery tickets the seal is impressed over the net weight. | N.J.S.A. 51:1-76; New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, Application for Appointment as Certified Weighmaster |
| Electronic seal | None. Neither N.J.S.A. 51:1-73 to 51:1-82.1 nor N.J.A.C. 13:47E provides for an electronic or digital weighmaster seal. New Jersey requires a physical impression, so every appointee needs a physical device and no digital certificate question arises. | N.J.S.A. 51:1-73 to 51:1-82.1; N.J.A.C. 13:47E |
| Renewal and lapse | The appointment runs for three years and the fee is $150 per appointment or renewal, deposited into the Weights and Measures Fund. The Division’s application confirms the $150.00 fee and the three year term from the date of certificate issuance. Nothing is surrendered. The statute does not make the seal state property. A name change, a new assigned number or the addition of a solid fuel designation each mean a new seal. | N.J.S.A. 51:1-74; New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, Application for Appointment as Certified Weighmaster |
| Firm requirements | An entity can hold the status: 51:1-73 brings firms, corporations and copartners within the definition of public weighmaster. But the seal under 51:1-76 is inscribed with “his name”, meaning the individual holder, and appointments under 51:1-74 are individual with an individually assigned official number. No separate corporate seal form is prescribed. Six year record retention applies under 51:1-79. | N.J.S.A. 51:1-73, 51:1-74, 51:1-76, 51:1-79 |
| Regulator | State Superintendent of Weights and Measures, New Jersey Office of Weights and Measures, Division of Consumer Affairs, New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. This is not the Department of Agriculture and it is not a professional board, which makes New Jersey the outlier among the weighmaster states. | N.J.S.A. 51:1-74; New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, Application for Appointment as Certified Weighmaster |
The wording trap, and why it costs a second die
New Jersey calls the person one thing and the seal another. The Division of Consumer Affairs’ form is headed “Application for Appointment as Certified Weighmaster”. N.J.S.A. 51:1-74 provides that “all public weighmasters and certified weighers shall be appointed by the State Superintendent of Weights and Measures for the term of three years”. And N.J.S.A. 51:1-76 says the words in the center of the seal are “public weigher”.
So the statute uses four labels across three sections, and only one of them is engravable. A buyer who works from the appointment letter orders a die reading certified weighmaster. A buyer who works from the licensing section orders one reading public weighmaster. Both are wrong against 51:1-76, and neither error is visible until the seal arrives. If you take one thing from this page, take the phrase: public weigher, in the center.
Does New Jersey require a weighmaster seal?
Yes, and the statute puts the cost on you. N.J.S.A. 51:1-76: “Every weighmaster and certified weigher shall, at his own expense, provide himself with a seal.” The verb is shall, and the expense is the appointee’s. Nothing in the statute has the state issuing, owning or reclaiming the device, which is a meaningful difference from a state such as Arizona, where the Division supplies the seal and takes it back.
The duty on the document is in the same section: “The seal shall be impressed upon each weight certificate issued by him.” Each certificate. N.J.A.C. 13:47E, the weighmaster chapter in the administrative code, adds nothing to this; we read the whole chapter, and it contains only Subchapter 1 on gross, tare and net weights and Subchapter 2 on retention of weighing records. There is no seal rule anywhere in it. The specification is statutory.
The statutory wording, word for word
Here is the sentence to hand a manufacturer, quoted from 51:1-76: “His name and the words ‘New Jersey’, shall be inscribed on the outer margin and the words ‘public weigher’, in the center thereof.”
Two rings. Around the outer margin: the holder’s name, and New Jersey. In the center: public weigher. The statute offers no abbreviation for the center phrase and asks for no credential words beyond it. Use your name as the appointment shows it, since the statute says his name and the appointment is what establishes what that is.
The assigned official number
The Superintendent assigns each appointee an official number, and the Division’s own application states that the number goes on the seal. That makes it a practical requirement: the regulator says so in the form it publishes and processes.
We are flagging one thing honestly rather than smoothing it over. Our reading of the Division’s published statute returned 51:1-76 as ending after the sentence about impressing the seal on each weight certificate, with no further language about an official number. So the statutory hook for that element is unresolved. Treat the number as required, because the Superintendent’s own form requires it, and confirm the format with the Office of Weights and Measures before artwork is cut. The number has to be in hand before you order in any case, which means the appointment comes first and the die comes after.
The S.F. mark for solid fuels
The same application adds a second element in the same position. Where the holder is designated to weigh solid fuels, the letters “S.F.” appear on the seal. Coal and coke weighing has its own long history in New Jersey, and the mark exists so that a certificate shows on its face that the weigher holds that designation.
The same honesty applies as with the number: we could not tie the S.F. requirement to the words of 51:1-76 that we read, and it comes from the Superintendent’s published application. Two practical points follow. If you are designated for solid fuels, ask for the mark, because the regulator’s form calls for it. And if you gain that designation after your seal is made, that is a new die, since the letters are cut into the existing artwork.
Embosser only, and no electronic alternative
The operative verb is impressed. The seal “shall be impressed upon each weight certificate issued by him”, and the Division’s application repeats it and adds the delivery ticket case. That describes an embosser, which presses the wording into the paper.
Nothing in N.J.S.A. 51:1-73 through 51:1-82.1 or in N.J.A.C. 13:47E provides for an electronic or digital weighmaster seal. That is not a gap in the search; we read both. The consequence is that every New Jersey appointee needs a physical device, and a workflow that emails a PDF with an image dropped into it has not produced the impression the statute describes. If your operation is moving to electronic tickets, that is a question for the Office of Weights and Measures rather than for a manufacturer.
Where the impression goes on a delivery ticket
The statute says each weight certificate. The Division’s application adds a placement instruction for delivery tickets: the seal is impressed over the net weight.
That is a sensible anti-alteration measure and it tells you something about sizing. An impression that has to sit over a printed figure and still leave that figure readable is a different design problem from one sitting in white space. It is worth checking your ticket layout against the die size before ordering, rather than discovering at the scale that the seal covers the number it is supposed to protect.
Signed and sealed: why both matter
N.J.S.A. 51:1-77 is where the seal earns its keep: a certificate, “when so made and properly signed and sealed, shall be prima facie evidence of such weights”. Both marks, or the evidentiary effect the section grants does not attach.
The same section gives the State Superintendent the certificate form, which is the sole form, and lists what it states: the kind of commodity, the number of units, the date of receipt, the name of the owner, agent or consignee, the accurate weight, the method of transportation or the vessel, identifying marks and other distinguishing information. 51:1-77.1 deals with stored tare. So a New Jersey weight certificate is a prescribed form, completed, signed and then embossed.
The phrase sole certificate form is worth pausing on. It means the layout is not yours to design, which removes a question New Jersey buyers sometimes ask about where on the page the impression should sit. On the prescribed weight certificate the placement follows the form. On a delivery ticket the Division’s application answers it directly by putting the impression over the net weight.
The appointment: three years, $150, and an oath
N.J.S.A. 51:1-74 sets the term at three years and has the State Superintendent issue appointment certificates and collect a $150 fee per appointment or renewal, deposited into the Weights and Measures Fund. The Division’s application confirms the $150.00 fee, payable to STATE TREASURER, WEIGHTS AND MEASURES REVENUE, and confirms that the three year term runs from the date the certificate is issued.
N.J.S.A. 51:1-75 adds the oath: each public weighmaster and certified weigher shall, before entering upon his duties, make oath to execute faithfully his duties. Two other duties are worth knowing. 51:1-78 provides that where the correctness of a net or gross weight is questioned, the owner, agent or consignee may have the commodity reweighed gratis. 51:1-79 requires all public weighmasters to keep and preserve accurate records of all public weighings for a period of six years.
Firms, and why there is no New Jersey corporate seal
N.J.S.A. 51:1-73 defines a public weighmaster to include firms, corporations and copartners, as well as individuals, who weigh commodities for hire and issue weight certificates accepted as an accurate basis for purchase or sale. So an entity can hold the status. The same section defines private weighmasters as employees or suitable persons designated by the State superintendent for non-commercial weighing.
The seal, though, stays personal. 51:1-76 inscribes “his name”, and appointments under 51:1-74 are individual with an individually assigned official number. No separate corporate seal form is prescribed anywhere in the statute or in N.J.A.C. 13:47E. That is a real difference from Maine, which creates a distinct corporate license and a distinct corporate seal reading licensed corporate public weighmaster. In New Jersey, a yard with four appointees is looking at four seals, each bearing a person’s name and that person’s number.
That has a cost consequence worth planning for. Four appointees means four $150 appointment fees on a three year cycle and four embossers, and a departure replaces one of each rather than amending a shared device. It also means custody is simple: each seal has an obvious owner, and a seal left at a counter after its holder has gone is a seal with nobody answerable for it.
What makes a correct New Jersey seal wrong
Three events, and all three mean a new die rather than a correction. A change of the holder’s name, since the name is on the margin by statute. A change of the assigned official number. And gaining the solid fuel designation, which adds the S.F. letters to the artwork.
Because New Jersey does not make the seal state property, there is nothing to surrender when an appointment ends or any of those changes happen. The old embosser stays yours. Retiring it rather than leaving it where it can still be pressed is sensible, for the same reason 51:1-77 gives the impression evidentiary weight: it is a representation about who weighed.
Size, shape and ordering a New Jersey weighmaster seal
No diameter, dimension or shape appears in 51:1-76, and N.J.A.C. 13:47E contains no seal rule at all, so there is no figure to publish. The only geometry the statute supplies is implicit in the words outer margin and center. The size is your decision, bounded by legibility and by the delivery ticket placement described above.
As Acorn’s own production record rather than as a rule, the weighmaster embossers we make run between a 1-5/8 inch and a 2 inch impression area depending on how much wording has to fit. That is what our presses do, not what New Jersey requires. A New Jersey die has to carry a name plus New Jersey on the margin and a center phrase plus a number, and possibly S.F. as well, so it tends toward the larger end.
Send us four things: your name exactly as appointed, the official number assigned by the State Superintendent, whether you hold the solid fuel designation, and the size you want. The margin reads your name plus New Jersey; the center reads public weigher. We proof the layout at actual size before cutting, which is the step that catches a wrong center phrase before it becomes a wrong die. The Public Weighmaster Handheld Seal Embosser at $46.95 travels between scales, the Public Weighmaster Desk Seal Embosser at $44.95 is the scale house choice for sealing every certificate in a shift, and the Soft Seal Embosser at $44.95 has a rubber handle that is easier through a long day. For continuous volume there is the Heavy Duty Standard Reach Embosser at $1,795.00 and the Heavy Duty Long Reach Embosser at $2,095.00. Browse the public weighmaster stamps and seals collection, or contact us with your wording. This page is a research summary and not legal advice.
- Public Weighmaster Stamps and Seals
- Maine Weighmaster Seal: Wording Fixed by Statute
- Mississippi Bonded Weighmaster Seal: Exact Wording
Frequently asked questions
What words go in the center of a New Jersey weighmaster seal?
Public weigher. N.J.S.A. 51:1-76 provides that the holder’s name and the words New Jersey shall be inscribed on the outer margin and the words public weigher in the center thereof. Do not engrave certified weighmaster, even though that is how the appointment is styled.
My appointment says Certified Weighmaster. Is my seal wrong?
It is wrong if the center of the die reads certified weighmaster. The Superintendent’s form is headed Application for Appointment as Certified Weighmaster, and 51:1-74 refers to public weighmasters and certified weighers, but 51:1-76 fixes the seal wording as public weigher. The title on the paperwork and the wording on the seal are different by design.
Does the seal have to carry my official number?
The Superintendent’s published application says it does, so treat it as required. We could not tie that element to the words of 51:1-76 that we read, which is why we are flagging it rather than presenting it as statutory. Confirm the format with the Office of Weights and Measures before ordering.
What is the S.F. on some New Jersey seals?
A solid fuel designation. The Superintendent’s application provides for the letters S.F. on the seal where the holder is designated to weigh solid fuels. As with the official number, we could not locate the requirement in the words of 51:1-76 we read, and it comes from the regulator’s own published form.
Can I use a rubber stamp or an electronic seal?
Nothing in New Jersey law authorizes either. The statute requires the seal to be impressed upon each weight certificate, and neither N.J.S.A. 51:1-73 to 51:1-82.1 nor N.J.A.C. 13:47E provides for an electronic or digital seal. New Jersey is an embosser state.
How big does a New Jersey weighmaster seal have to be?
No size is published. 51:1-76 prescribes the inscription and its layout and states no diameter, dimension or shape, and N.J.A.C. 13:47E contains no seal rule. Choose a size that keeps the name, the center phrase and the number legible, and check it against the delivery ticket, where the application calls for the seal to be impressed over the net weight.
How long does the appointment last and what does it cost?
Three years, at $150 per appointment or renewal, under N.J.S.A. 51:1-74. The Division’s application confirms the $150.00 fee, payable to STATE TREASURER, WEIGHTS AND MEASURES REVENUE, and that the term runs from the date the certificate is issued. An oath is required before entering upon duties under 51:1-75, and 51:1-79 requires six years of records.
Does a company need its own New Jersey seal?
No corporate seal form is prescribed. 51:1-73 brings firms, corporations and copartners within the definition of public weighmaster, but 51:1-76 inscribes the holder’s own name and appointments under 51:1-74 are individual with an individually assigned number. This differs from Maine, which creates a separate corporate license and a separate corporate seal.
