California State Coat of Arms

The central figure is Minerva, the Roman goddess of wisdom and war. She sits in full armor, holding a spear and a shield, wearing a plumed helmet. She is the largest figure in the design and the focal point of the coat of arms.

The convention's records show delegates chose Minerva because California entered the Union as a full state without passing through a territorial stage, the same way Minerva was born fully grown in Roman mythology. No other state at the time had entered the Union this way.

A California grizzly bear sits at Minerva's feet. The grizzly was the most recognizable large animal in California in 1849. The California grizzly is now extinct, hunted out by the early twentieth century, making the coat of arms one of its most enduring images.

The grizzly later became California's official state animal, a designation that traces directly back to its presence on the coat of arms and on the state flag.

To the right of Minerva, a miner is shown at work with a bowl, representing the gold miners who came to California after the discovery at Sutter's Mill on January 24, 1848. The Gold Rush was already reshaping California when the convention met in 1849, and the delegates recorded it directly in the design.

In the background, sailing ships move across what the design shows as San Francisco Bay. They represent California's role in Pacific trade and commerce. San Francisco was the main port of entry for the thousands of people and goods that arrived during the Gold Rush years.

The Sierra Nevada range rises in the background behind the bay and ships. The mountains were the defining geographic barrier of California in 1849, separating the Pacific coast from the rest of the country and making California feel like a world apart.

Thirty-one stars arc across the top of the coat of arms. California entered the Union as the thirty-first state on September 9, 1850, and the stars mark that count. The number was fixed in 1849 when delegates designed the coat of arms expecting California to be the thirty-first state admitted.

The word EUREKA appears prominently on the coat of arms. It is a Greek word meaning I have found it. It became California's official state motto and is a direct reference to the discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill on January 24, 1848, the event that set off the Gold Rush.

A sheaf of wheat and a cluster of grapes appear in the lower portion of the design. They represent California's agricultural potential. The delegates who designed the coat of arms believed farming would become as central to California's economy as gold.