Talk:Coat of arms of Burkina Faso

Anyone have a pic of the former coat of arms?
Josh 22:25, 1 May 2007 (UTC)

Well, I had one sticked on my mortocycle during the revolution... But I didn't make a photo... Ericd 15:46, 2 May 2007 (UTC)

I found this picture of a T-shirt with the old coat of arm http://demokrasia-kenya.blogspot.com/2005/08/time-to-expose-dangerous-islamophobic.html. Ericd 15:53, 2 May 2007 (UTC)

Yay, thanks. :) Josh 00:43, 7 May 2007 (UTC)

"Burchina Faso" is definetly wrong. It has to be "Burkina Faso" on the crest (see offical pages of Burkina Faso). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.203.16.133 (talk) 17:59, 8 May 2011 (UTC)

Is there a version of the Sankarist coat of arms without the Wikipedia text?
Much appreciated if you could find any -- Preceding unsigned comment added by BlueRobot116 (talk  o  contribs) 16:56, 15 March 2021 (UTC)


 * I don't really understand what you're asking. AnonMoos (talk) 17:32, 15 March 2021 (UTC)


 * There's text in the 1984 - 1997 Burkinabe coat of arms https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/694329506093072439/821439548680175667/image0.png BlueRobot116 (talk) 17:55, 16 March 2021 (UTC)


 * Oh -- I didn't magnify the image to be able to see the writing on the book. I assumed it was just vague wavy lines.  If there was meaningful writing on the book in the original 1980s coat of arms, I don't know what that was (it would not have been legible in most uses of the coat of arms).  If you want me to replace the French text in the image with vague wavy lines, then I can do that... AnonMoos (talk) 18:28, 17 March 2021 (UTC)


 * According to heraldry-wiki it appears the text is supposed to actually be: "Burkina, Fasokeno, Kamba, Bibbe" and "Faso, A Ye Wihi, Yiky Ya! und Ukame Nete".
 * Do you think you might be able to fix that? NorthTension (talk) 15:49, 4 August 2022 (UTC)


 * Ok, I added the text in a basic simple way. Someone could fiddle with it to make the text look more elegant, but it's not going to be legible in a 220px-wide thumbnail, regardless of what anyone does... AnonMoos (talk) 19:51, 6 August 2022 (UTC)

By the way, the 1967-1984 coat of arms shown on the Heraldry-wiki site is not known to the book Guide to the Flags of the World by Mauro Talocci, Revised and updated by Whitney Smith (1982, ISBN 0-688-01141-1). The image for the 1961 coat of arms on Heraldry-wiki is taken from my SVG, where I tried to duplicate the coat of arms shown in the Talocci & Smith book to the best of my SVG abilities, but there are a number of small differences between my SVG file and what is printed in the book... AnonMoos (talk) 23:05, 6 August 2022 (UTC)


 * Also, image https://www.heraldry-wiki.com/heraldrywiki/wiki/File:Uppervol.jpg is technically in copyright violation, since its use on that site does not comply with the terms of the "CC BY-SA 3.0" license which apply to image commons:File:Coat_of_arms_of_Upper_Volta.svg... AnonMoos (talk) 15:19, 8 August 2022 (UTC)

Coat of arms of Upper Volta from 1967-1984
Does anyone have a source to confirm that this version of the coat of arms was actually used from 1967-1984? I see two stamps from Upper Volta from 1970 and 1980 which use the coat of arms with the blue shield. The 1980 stamp is Scott catalogue number 549 for reference. Also, what is the source for the dates of usage for the previous arms with the blue shield? I noticed as well on the Republic of Upper Volta page someone has included this 1967-1984 version of the coat of arms which I think should be changed to blue shield coat of arms. ElkandAcquerne (talk) 14:49, 3 December 2023 (UTC)


 * The only printed paper source I have direct physical access to right now is Guide to the Flags of the World by Mauro Talocci, Revised and updated by Whitney Smith (1982, ISBN 0-688-01141-1), which implicitly indicates that the version in use around 1977-1982 was the white horses on a blue shield, with RHV inner shield ("inescutcheon"), as I said above. I don't know what the source for the other one is, other than Heraldrywiki... AnonMoos (talk) 17:06, 3 December 2023 (UTC)


 * I have looked at some more stamps from Upper Volta with the coat of arms. All the stamps I have seen are with the blue shield version (or element styles of the blue shield version) from 1961 (Scott# 94), 1967 (Sc# 175), 1970 (Sc# 234), 1976 (Sc# 401, 402), 1980 (Sc# 549) and 1983 (Sc# 643).  I am not able to verify the "second" version of the Upper Volta coat of arms ever existed?  I have seen an Upper Volta passport and a medal with the blue shield version coat of arms as well. ElkandAcquerne (talk) 01:40, 4 December 2023 (UTC)


 * I turned up my copy of "A Guide to Heraldry" by Ottfried Neubecker. The only dates in my reprint copy (ISBN 0-7607-9034-5) are 2006/2007, but the combination of showing the Lion and Sun emblem for Iran and a Khalq faction emblem for Afghanistan dates its content pretty securely to 1979 or early 1980.  It shows the blue shield / RHV arms for Upper Volta (still called by that name). AnonMoos (talk) 07:58, 4 December 2023 (UTC)
 * The book Flaggen, Wappen, Daten by Karl-Heinz Hesmer from 1975 may include information about this second "1967" coat of arms as it is the reference used by the website of civil heraldry by Hubert de Vries. I wonder if this second coat of arms was just a proposal or briefly used. I will try to find more information on this second version. I also will try to find one official government issued document with this coat of arms. I do not think one flag book reference would be enough to verify a coat of arms. ElkandAcquerne (talk) 13:33, 4 December 2023 (UTC)
 * Then should it be labeled as "Possible coat of arms, reported in 1975"? 71.239.86.150 (talk) 22:32, 4 December 2023 (UTC)
 * The website of Hubert de Vries has a 1967 date which I assume he got from the Hesmer source he listed although I have not seen Hesmer myself to verify this. Regardless, there would have to be more than one flag book reference to verify that the second coat of arms was actually ever used. So far, I have not seen anything officially published by the Republic of Upper Volta to verify that this coat of arms was ever used.  One good way to help verify would be to see Upper Volta passports, government documents, etc.  So far, not one stamp has this second coat of arms design.  I have only ever seen the blue shield version. ElkandAcquerne (talk) 00:22, 5 December 2023 (UTC)
 * Okay, as the original uploader of the file, I have 2 theories.
 * - This coat of arms was briefly used but abandoned by 1970, the site owner may have been unaware the coat of arms was reverted.
 * - This coat of arms was just a 1967 proposal, documented in the 1975 book.
 * I'm pretty sure secondary sources (such as flag books) are preferred to primary sources (such as government documents) SVG-image-maker (talk) 01:27, 9 December 2023 (UTC)
 * By the way, for the 1961 arms there is a librsvg bug where the motto displays weird at small sizes. This can be fixed by converting the text to path. SVG-image-maker (talk) 01:32, 9 December 2023 (UTC)
 * I really don't care how the text displays in an 85px-wide thumbnail, where it's not even legible. I transformed "TRAVAIL" from text to paths to fix 2010 problems in rendering at resolutions I do care about (220 pixels wide and 494 pixels wide), but left the other two words as text... AnonMoos (talk) 09:31, 9 December 2023 (UTC)
 * I will try to locate a copy of the Hesmer source and read it. I have also commented on the coat of arms of Ghana, Guinea and Cook Islands about possible variants. It would be nice to see copies of the laws regarding the coat of arms of all of the countries. It seems Mali has both a coat of arms and a seal (never seen it, just a description in the laws mentioned by Hubert de Vries). For some variants of coat of arms, there is often a de facto usage versus what is the de jure one. It took a few years for Seychelles to update the color of its coat of arms to match the current flag. The coat of arms never did match the second flag only the first. ElkandAcquerne (talk) 19:34, 9 December 2023 (UTC)
 * There's a claimed seal of Mali on the "Coat of arms of Mali" article. You can see a pure monochrome version of the seal with only black lines on white as of ca. 1979 in "A Guide to Heraldry" by Ottfried Neubecker (ISBN of my reprint edition is 0-7607-9034-5)... AnonMoos (talk) 21:41, 13 January 2024 (UTC)
 * Thanks. I will have to see if this seal is the same as the one described on the website of de Vries. ElkandAcquerne (talk) 16:53, 18 January 2024 (UTC)
 * If this is the one from page 120, this seems to just be to coat of arms (or emblem) of Mali in black and white. There is an actual different seal for Mali which Hubert de Vries describes although there is no picture of it (ever?). This seal has a lion, sorghum, rice, a buffalo's head and same wording from the arms. It would be interesting if someone could do a reconstruction? ElkandAcquerne (talk) 18:18, 19 January 2024 (UTC)
 * OK, under that definition, I strongly doubt that I've ever seen the seal of Mali. That source may have some positive features, but it was definitely wrong about Ireland, and questionable in some other cases, so it should not be used a sole source for anything at this point... AnonMoos (talk) 23:33, 22 January 2024 (UTC)
 * OK, under that definition, I strongly doubt that I've ever seen the seal of Mali. That source may have some positive features, but it was definitely wrong about Ireland, and questionable in some other cases, so it should not be used a sole source for anything at this point... AnonMoos (talk) 23:33, 22 January 2024 (UTC)


 * The International Flag Book in Color, by Christian Fogd Pedersen, on page 86, shows the reported 1967 arms. My theory is that the coat of arms was reverted sometime around 1975. 71.239.86.150 (talk) 21:22, 2 January 2024 (UTC)
 * The 1967 date is confirmed on page 188 of the above mentioned book. 71.239.86.150 (talk) 21:40, 2 January 2024 (UTC)
 * Thanks for looking for another source. I wonder if this coat of arms was used from 1967 to 1970 as both Upper Volta stamps from 1967 and 1970 (and for sure any stamp after 1970) have the other Upper Volta coat of arms (older blue shield version). Perhaps Hesmer was just out of date? If Hesmer is using Pedersen as a source, then where did Pedersen get this coat of arms? ElkandAcquerne (talk) 23:59, 9 January 2024 (UTC)

Whitney Smith has more credibility than a random flag-book author, but you're right that an official government document would probably be better... AnonMoos (talk) 09:52, 5 December 2023 (UTC)

The Karl-Heinz Hesmer Source
OK, I have read and reviewed the Karl-Heinz Hesmer source. He has the "1967 version" of the coat of arms. He does not source where he got the image and it is only in this book have I ever seen this coat of arms ever documented (UPDATE: As stated above it appears to be from Pedersen). He has several other coat of arms in the book which may not have been accurate nor official for the time (the book is from 1975). For example, for Zaire he has the 1963-1971 coat of arms (the leopard head on the blue shield), for Ireland (the united provinces coat of arms, never de jure?) and for Guinea-Bissau, he has a PAIGC party coat of arms, not the coat of arms of the state itself. From a quick review of the rest of the book, most of the rest of the coas seem to be accurate although occasionally the author uses the lesser arms of a particular country. As I have stated before, I have never seen the "1967 version" on any stamp nor passport (Upper Volta did not issue any coins to my knowledge). Until there is more documentation from an official source, this coat of arms is still unverified (for sure at the moment underdocumented). It reminds me of a reference source from the early 1990s with a totally incorrect flag for Kazakhstan (a flag never actually used). So this is an example of not just assuming a reference source is correct or accurate. ElkandAcquerne (talk) 20:47, 15 December 2023 (UTC)


 * The four provinces coat of arms is more a symbol of the whole island of Ireland than the Republic of Ireland. It appeared on a 1920s "Eire" fourpence stamp, and is used in various forms by all-island sporting bodies, but I don't think it's ever been the official coat of arms of the Republic of Ireland (certainly not in the 1970s).  Based on that, I would have no objections to deleting the putative 1967 arms of the Ivory Coast.
 * By the way, for incorrect depictions in historical reference works, during much of the 1920s and 1930s, the French Larousse dictionaries included a mysterious "Palestine" flag which was certainly not the official flag of the British mandate. In the last 9 or so years, certain Israeli nationalists have taken it up, and insist it was the historical flag of Palestine... AnonMoos (talk) 02:00, 16 December 2023 (UTC)