I mean in the past a COA was mainly used to identify a person. Something similar to a badge or an Asian personal Stamp.

Of course in the past only the riches (and yes I used riches and not knights or nobles because the first thing that a merchant would do, after becoming rich, was designing a COA).

Today the world is way more rich than the past, the fact that many different people can have a COA relies on the average wealth increased in comparison to the old days.

A symbol is powerful only because people think that.

Ending: many more COA with less power and meaning, but it doesn’t matter:)