Seal of New Jersey

Seal Of New Jersey

The Great Seal of the State of New Jersey includes:

• 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.

The seal is described in New Jersey statute Title 52, §2-1:

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".