How did California get its seal?

California received its state seal in 1849 directly after the California Constitutional Convention. The secretary of the convention requested that Robert Selden Garnett craft the seal. California's seal displays the Greek goddess Minerva (often called Athena), dressed in a suit of armor and a Phrygian cap, the symbol of freedom and liberty found on the US Great Seal. In her left hand, she holds a pole topped by a Liberty cap; her right hand rests upon a shield bearing a grizzly bear, a symbol of California. The state motto, "Eureka" (Greek for "I have found it"), appears on a scroll under the shield.