Seal of California

The Seal of California was adopted at the California state Constitutional Convention of 1849 and redesigned in 1937. The seal features Minerva, the goddess of wisdom; a California grizzly bear (the official state animal) feeding on grape vines, representing California wine production; a sheaf of grain, representing agriculture; a miner, representing the California Gold Rush and the mining industry; sailing ships, representing the state's economic power; and San Francisco Bay or the Sacramento River. The phrase "Eureka," meaning "We have found it!" is the California state motto.

The geography is not an exact view from any one place in California, although the waters were described in 1849 as being "of the Sacramento" and the mountains in the background as being "the snow-clad peaks of the Sierra Nevada."

Original 1849 description

The original 1849 text describing the seal is as follows (source: [1])

Around the bevel of the ring are represented thirty-one stars being the number of states of which the union will consist upon the admission of California.

The foreground figure represents the Goddess Minerva having sprung full grown from the brain of Jupiter. This is introduced as a type of the political birth of the State of California without having gone through the probation of a Territory. At her feet crouches a grisely bear feeding upon clusters from a grapevine emblematic of the peculiar characteristics of the country. A miner in engaged with a rocker and a bowl at his side, illustrating the golden wealth of the Sacramento upon whose waters are seen shipping typical of commercial greatness and the snow-clad peaks of the Sierra Nevada make up the background while above the Greek motto "Eureka" (I have found it) applying either to the principle involved in the admission of the State or the success of the miner at work.

External links

• Images of the original 1849 and revised 1937 seals