The Johannesburg municipal council assumed a coat of arms in 1907, and had it granted by the College of Arms on 20 August 1907. The design, by W. Sandford Cotterill, consisted only of a shield : Vert, a fess between three battery stamps Or (i.e. a green shield displaying a golden horizontal stripe between three battery stamps). The motto was Fortiter et recte.^[1]

In May 1939, the College of Arms granted a crest (a gold lion resting a paw on a battery stamp) and supporters (two sable antelope, each with a gold mural crown around its neck and a gold star on its shoulder).^[2] The full achievement of arms was registered with the Transvaal Provincial Administration in November 1951^[3] and at the Bureau of Heraldry in November 1966.

The Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Council assumed a new coat of arms in 1997, and registered it at the Bureau of Heraldry in November 1997. The arms are Vert, a fret couped Or, the mascle voided Gules, between in chief and in base respectively four shield thongs Argent; behind the shield a spine erect Or, plumed Sable. The supporters are two young golden lions, each wearing a red and blue beaded collar; the motto is Unity in development.^[2]

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