New Jersey State Seal

Great Seal of the State of New Jersey

New Jersey Seal

Adopted in 1928.

The Great Seal of the State of New Jersey was adopted in 1928.

New Jersey's state seal was designed by Pierre Eugene du Simitiere and presented in May of 1777 to the Legislature, which was then meeting in the Indian King Tavern in Haddonfield.. There are several state symbols included in the seal. The horse head stands for speed and strength, and is the state animal. The helmet of a knight's suit of armor faces forward representing sovereignty for a state that governs itself. Below the helmet is a shield with three plows on it. The plows show the importance of agriculture to the state's economic power.

The female figures pictured in the state seal are Liberty on the left, carrying the liberty cap on her staff. The liberty cap was worn as a symbol of rebellion by patriots in the colonies. Ceres, the Roman goddess of grain is on the right. She holds a cornucopia filled with harvested produce, symbolizing abundance. Below it all is a banner with the state's motto, "Liberty and Prosperity".

New Jersey Great Seal

Coat of arms of the State of New Jersey

The Coat of arms of the State of New Jersey includes:

Coat of arms of the State of New Jersey
  • A shield with three plows emblazoned, representative of New Jersey's agricultural tradition.
  • A forward-facing knight's helmet.
  • A horse's head as the crest of the helmet.
  • The female figures Liberty and Ceres, representative of the state's motto (see next item). Liberty is holding a staff supporting a "liberty cap"; Ceres is holding an overflowing cornucopia.
  • The streamer at the foot of the emblem contains the State Motto of New Jersey, "Liberty and Prosperity", and the year of statehood, 1776.

It was originally designed by Pierre Eugene du Simitiere in 1777 and was modified slightly in 1928.

The seal is the central motif in the flag of New Jersey and the Great Seal of the State of New Jersey.

The Coat of arms contains a horse's head;  The three plows in the shield honor the state's agricultural tradition which shows why the state has the nickname "Garden State". . The helmet above the shield faces forward, an attitude denoting sovereignty and thus particularly fitting for one of the first governments created under the notion that the state itself is the sovereign. The two Goddesses represent the State motto, "Liberty and Prosperity". Liberty is on the left. She is holding a staff with a liberty cap on it, and the word liberty underneath her. The goddess on the right is Ceres, goddess of agriculture. She is holding a cornucopia with prosperity written below her.

Although the Seal's major elements have kept their relative positions for more than 200 years, there have been a number of lesser changes. The staff that Liberty now holds with her right hand she once held in the crook of her left arm. While the female figures now face straight ahead, they at one time looked away from the shield. The cornucopia that Ceres now holds upright was once inverted, its open end upon the ground. The Seal was redesigned in accordance with Joint Resolution 8 of the Laws of 1928. It was then that the year of statehood, 1776, first appeared in Arabic figures.

New Jersey State Legislature 

New Jersey Permanent Statutes
TITLE 52       STATE GOVERNMENT, DEPARTMENTS AND OFFICERS
52:2-1.  Description of great seal of state

The great seal of this state shall be engraved on silver, which shall be round, of two and a half inches in diameter and three-eighths of an inch thick; the arms shall be three ploughs in an escutcheon, azure; supporters, Liberty and Ceres. The Goddess Liberty to carry in her dexter hand a pole, proper, surmounted by a cap gules, with band azure at the bottom, displaying on the band six stars, argent; tresses falling on shoulders, proper; head bearing over all a chaplet of laurel leaves, vert; overdress, tenne; underskirt, argent; feet sandaled, standing on scroll. Ceres: Same as Liberty, save overdress, gules; holding in left hand a cornucopia, or, bearing apples, plums and grapes surrounded by leaves, all proper; head bearing over all a chaplet of wheat spears, vert. Shield surmounted by sovereign's helmet, six bars, or; wreath and mantling, argent and azure. Crest: A horse's head, proper. Underneath the shield and supporting the goddesses, a scroll azure, bordered with tenne, in three waves or folds; on the upper folds the words "Liberty and Prosperity" ; on the under fold in Arabic numerals, the figures "1776" . These words to be engraved round the arms, viz., "The Great Seal of the State of New Jersey" .


State Seals
State Seals