This brief post is just to notify my readers that I have stumbled across what may be a hitherto unknown variant of Vancouver’s second coat of arms (1903-1969). For a history of the city’s three coats, see here and here.
Jason at Illustrated Vancouver points out that the second coat of arms was designed by James Jervis Blomfield and that the design was “first made in 1901, adapted in 1903, and presented to the city in 1945 in the form of a memorial plaque.” An image of the 1945 plaque is reproduced below:
Note some of the differences between the Labour Day, 1914 image of the coat and the 1945 drawing:
- 1914 logger appears to be clean-shaven (versus moustache), is wearing a hat (versus hatless), and the branch is (for the most part) behind him (versus in the crook of his arm and beside him);
- 1914 fisherman is also clean-shaven (versus moustache), has his coat hood up (versus hat), has a warmer jacket on (versus a rain slicker), and his oar is behind him (versus being beside him and in the crook of his arm). His footwear appears to be more appropriate for a fisherman in the 1945 drawing (rubber boots).
- The nets and hatchets also appear to be different.
- I can’t read the motto on the scroll beneath the 1914 drawing. However, I don’t imagine it’s different from the 1945 “By Sea and Land We Prosper”. (The motto was changed when the entire coat of arms was overhauled in 1969 to “By Sea, Land, and Air We Prosper”).
The 1914 version of Vancouver’s coat of arms was probably unofficial. It may have been painted from memory onto the fabric attached to the float. However, there is another coat of arms that is less legible, but very similar (if not exactly the same) in this other 1914 Labour Day image.
Vancouver As It Was: A Photo-Historical Journey 