Abstract: A seal elements of hard material for use, for instance, as a pair of small plates which form the parts to control the fluid flow through a faucet. The seal is constructed of a hard material--a metal, a metallic oxide, a metallic carbide, a metallic nitride, a ceramic or glassy material--which is sintered from a semi-finished product obtained by mixing a powder of fine particle size of the aforementioned hard materials with an organic binder--a plastic material, a wax, or a combination of these substances. This mixture is formed under compression in a mold and, eventually, at least some of the binder is eliminated.