File talk:Seal of the State of North Dakota.svg

Remove incorrect version of North Dakota State Seal

Hi,

I work for the North Dakota State Government and am attempting to have incorrect versions of our state seal removed.

Wiki has both the correct version and an incorrect version available. We are not sure who designed or uploaded the incorrect version, but it surfaced a number of years back.

Here are two links to nd.gov web sites with the proper seal shown: http://sos.nd.gov/great-seal-and-emblems/great-seal and http://www.nd.gov/content.htm?parentCatID=75&id=Great%20Seal

The incorrect version can be seen on Wiki here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:State_seals_of_North_Dakota. It is actually shown three times on that page.

How can I go about removing the incorrect version?

Thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 165.234.248.3 (talk) 12:53, 20 April 2016‎ (UTC)

We generally do not remove media for anything other than copyright issues, though we can add to the description (or rename them) to more properly indicate status. In looking at the blazon, I don't see any actual errors in this version. The coloration and artistic details can vary between artists who draw different versions based on the blazon, but in a heraldic sense it doesn't make them "wrong". It's possible the state has a particular rendition they prefer to use, but since each rendition can have its own copyright, we may not be able to host those here, since we need to have versions which are either public domain or have their copyright licensed. If the current official rendition was published before 1989 without a copyright notice, it's probable it is public domain, otherwise the copyright would still be valid and would need to be licensed freely. We also prefer SVG versions as they render much better.

This image came from a U.S. Government collection of state steals (and thus public domain by law); I imagine they rendered them based on old black and white versions, and may have done custom coloring. In some cases they are dated designs, where the state has since changed the blazon, but I don't see that North Dakota has changed -- it seems to be in their constitution as A tree in the open field, the trunk of which is surrounded by three bundles of wheat; on the right a plow, anvil and sledge; on the left, a bow crossed with three arrows, and an Indian on horseback pursuing a buffalo toward the setting sun; the foliage of the tree arched by a half circle of forty-two stars, surrounded by the motto "Liberty and Union Now and Forever, One and Inseparable"; the words "Great Seal" at the top; the words "State of North Dakota" at the bottom; "October 1st" on the left and "1889" on the right. All of those elements are there, and no particular colors of the border etc. are specified, so this would seem to be correct per the blazon -- it's just one artist's rendition of the seal design. The English Wikipedia pages would probably prefer to use the current official version, which en:Seal of North Dakota does, but that is assumed to be a non-free version so is not hosted on Commons. That page probably should not display this one as a "variant", though we would still host it. Commons would probably host any freely-licensed rendition which someone draws -- heraldic tradition allows for that (and I'm guessing that there have been many official renditions in use; the physical seals themselves are often redone every few decades as they do wear down if used often).

What specifically is the issue with this version? Just the coloring which differs? Was something like this ever in official use, or are colors completely custom? Carl Lindberg (talk) 20:12, 20 April 2016 (UTC)

@165.234.248.3: I uploaded the correct version here. – Illegitimate Barrister (talk • contribs), 12:44, 3 January 2024 (UTC)