In 1941 Howard M. Chapin, head of the Rhode Island Historical Society, was commissioned to do coats of arms for the towns of the state. For Coventry he chose a design after the arms of Coventry's namesake in England. The English shield was divided vertically into two parts with the left hand side in red and the right hand side in green. In the center is an elephant and castle in gold. To make it different from the seal of Coventry, England, he divided the shield horizontally into two parts. The upper half is red, the lower section green. Elephant and castle in gold.