State Seal of Maryland

Great Seal of the State of Maryland
The reverse of the seal of Maryland.
Versions
The obverse of the seal of Maryland.
The coat of arms of Maryland.
Details
Armiger	State of Maryland
Adopted	1969
Use	To represent the government of the State of Maryland in official contexts and to authenticate certain official documents.

The Great Seal of the State of Maryland is the official government emblem of the U.S. state of Maryland. Its official service is to authenticate acts by the Maryland General Assembly, but it is also used for display purposes at most state buildings. Although the state seal has been changed in design several times throughout history, the current model represents the reverse side of the original seal.

The seal consists of two sides, a reverse and an obverse. In official contexts, only the reverse side is used.

The first seal was stolen in 1645 by Richard Ingle during a rebellion, but a similar one was sent as a replacement by Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore. This seal was used except for a period from 1692–1715 until a new one was adopted in 1794. That seal used republican imagery, such as a woman holding scales of justice on the obverse and on the reverse the motto "Industry the Means, Plenty the Result".

In 1817 and 1854, symbols of the eagle were used along with a version of the original reverse on the 1854 version. The original Calvert seal was brought back into use in 1874, and has had various corrections made to its image and meaning in 1959 and 1969.

Maryland has the distinction of having a dual-sided seal, rare among U.S. states and the world. The obverse side of the state seal, which was described by statute in 1959 (Chapter 396, Acts of 1959), shows Lord Baltimore as a knight in full armor mounted on a charger with a drawn sword in hand. The caparisons of the horse on which Lord Baltimore is mounted bear his family coat of arms. The inscription on the rim of the seal shows the phrase, Cecilius Absolutus Dominus Terræ Mariæ et Avaloniæ Baro de Baltimore, which translates to "Cecil, Absolute Lord of Maryland and Avalon, Baron of Baltimore" (Chapter 79, Acts of 1969; Sections 13-101 through 13-105 of the State Government Article of the Annotated Code of Maryland).

The reverse of the seal shows the Calvert arms, described as follows: