The coat of arms

Coat of arms

A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...

 of the Netherlands Antilles

Netherlands Antilles

The Netherlands Antilles , also referred to informally as the Dutch Antilles, was an autonomous Caribbean country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, consisting of two groups of islands in the Lesser Antilles: Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao , in Leeward Antilles just off the Venezuelan coast; and Sint...

consisted of a shield, a crown and the motto. The shield itself showed five blue stars on a golden background, within a red border. These five stars stood for the five islands of the Netherlands Antilles and also were represented in the flag

Flag of the Netherlands Antilles

The Flag of the Netherlands Antilles was white, with a horizontal blue stripe in the center, one-third of the flag's hoist, superimposed on a vertical red stripe of the same width, also centered; six white, five-pointed stars are arranged in a pentagon pattern in the center of the blue band, their...

. The crown atop the shield was that of the Dutch sovereign. Under the shield was a ribbon with the motto: Libertate Unanimus (" United in Freedom").

The present coat of arms was adopted on January 1, 1986, the day that Aruba

Aruba

Aruba is a 33 km-long island of the Lesser Antilles in the southern Caribbean Sea, located 27 km north of the coast of Venezuela and 130 km east of Guajira Peninsula...

 separated from the Netherlands Antilles and acquired a status aparte within the Kingdom of the Netherlands

Kingdom of the Netherlands

The Kingdom of the Netherlands is a sovereign state and constitutional monarchy with territory in Western Europe and in the Caribbean. The four parts of the Kingdom—Aruba, Curaçao, the Netherlands, and Sint Maarten—are referred to as "countries", and participate on a basis of equality...

.
The ultimate coat of arms replaced the previous version, which had been in use since October 23, 1964. That version of the arms contained six stars: again one for each island including Aruba.

The Netherlands Antilles were dissolved on 10 October, 2010.