Florida's State Seal created in 1985

Title

• Florida's State Seal created in 1985

Image Number

• RC07795

Year

• Not before 1985

Series Title

• General: Reference collection

Biography Note

• The Firestone seal was minted from droplets of silver unearthed at the site near the Capitol of the Spanish mission of San Juan de Aspalaga, which was burned in 1704. Since 1868, the official Seal has been the size of a silver dollar.



Biography Note

• Among the anomalies of the Old Seal: a bag of coffee, never a prime crop in Florida; a cocoa palm instead of the state's Sabal (Palmetto) palm; an Indian maiden dressed as a Plains Indian, mountains in a state where the highest elevation is 345 feet, and questionable seaworthiness of the sidewheel steamer.



Biography Note

• Firestone had commissioned a revision of the Seal by Museum of Florida History artist, John Locastro, to remove inconsistencies, some of which had survived since 1868. The Secretary of State is the legal custodian of the Seal.



Biography Note

• As custodian of the seal, first by Constitutional authority and since 1968 by statute, the Secretaries of State have occasionally caused changes to be made in the seal, within the language of the Constitution and statute. Secretary of State R. A. Gray (1930-1961), for example, lengthened the skirt of the Indian.



Biography Note

• The present State Seal was adopted by Governor Bob Graham and the Cabinet on May 21, 1985, upon its presentation by Secretary of State George Firestone.

Additional Creator

• LoCastro, John.

Physical Description

• 1 photoprint - b&w - 8 x 8 in.

Subject Term

• State seals
• Signs and symbols
• Emblems, State
• Seals (Numismatics)
• Decorative arts
• Art
• Palms in art
• Steamboats in art
• Material culture
• Indians in art

Geographic Term

• Florida--Seal.

Shelf Number

• Shelf number: G05161n.

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