If I've Said It Once ...

... I've said it a thousand times:  "Don't exaggerate!"  No, wait, that's not what I've said.  What I've said is:

"You can find heraldry (or heraldry-like logos) everywhere."

The last time we were visiting Chicago (a great town for architecture, as well as history, good food, and good friends), as we were driving around we spotted the following logos from the car.

The first was the coat of arms on the facade of York Furrier.

As you can see, it's a bit of a mash-up, with what almost looks more like a "sash sinister" than it does a bend sinister, a crown in base whose posture is probably best described as bendwise, an English esquire's helm with a crest of a rampant more-than-demi unicorn holding something between a pair of Germanic-style buffalo horns.

The other was very much an "arms-like logo" on the canopy over the door of Bath Crest.

Here, the bend sinister is unambiguous, between the capital letters B and C.  On the other hand, I'm not at all certain what the thing above the shield, where one would normally expect a helm and crest (or sometimes just a crest) is supposed to be.  (In conjunction with the name, it reminds me of a toilet seat and lid edge on, but probably is just me.)

So as I said, you can find heraldry everywhere!  Even just driving down the streets of a major city in the American midwest.

The Gore Roll of Arms, Again

I like to talk about the Gore roll of arms every now and again, simply because it is my belief, based on many interactions with heraldry enthusiasts here in the United States and around the world, that far too few people even know of its existence, and of those that do, the majority are only aware of it through the most widely available, but flawed, source.

The Gore roll is a roll of arms which was created in the mid-1700s containing color reproductions of arms dating back to the early 1700s, created by the Gore family of sign and herald painters in colonial Boston, Massachusetts.  You can find the presentation I gave on the Gore roll at the International Congress of Genealogical and Heraldic Sciences held in Bruges, Belgium in 2004 at http://www.appletonstudios.com/Congress2004DBA.pdf  (The illustrations in that .pdf are black and white line drawings which I created, since the full-color illustrations from the Gore roll are held in copyright by the New England Historic Genealogical Society, which owns the roll.)  Still, you can get an idea of the roll from the photograph below, taken when I was able to visit the NEHGS and given a peek at the original.

As I mention in the article noted above, most people get their knowledge of the Gore roll from the publications of William Whitmore in the mid-19th Century.  Unfortunately, there are errors at two levels in those publications, in that they (1) were done from an imperfect copy of the roll (to be fair to hmi, the original had disappeared at that time, and was only rediscovered in the 1930s) and not the original, and (2) Whitmore introduced some additional errors of his own.

When the original was rediscovered in the possession of some Gore family descendants, it was purchased from them by Dr. Harold Bowditch of the NEHGS, and remains in their holdings today.  Dr. Bowditch did a good review of the roll which was published in the The Rhode Island Register, the journal of the Rhode Island Historical Society.  The trouble, of course, is that copies of that review (or a later 1983 reprint) are hard to find except in the very best genealogical libraries.

In an effort to try to make information about this unique historical American roll of arms a little more widely available, I wrote a new volume about it and published it myself.  This most recent review of the Gore roll is the first to include illustrations of all of the arms contained in it, as well as containing Whitmore's and Dr. Bowditch's writings about it along with some additional information and illustrations of other usages of some of the arms in the roll.  (I would have included color reproductions of the arms, but the cost to obtain the necessary permissions would have meant that I would have had to at the very least double the price of the book, and it's already more expensive than I would like as it is.  So, black and white line drawings it is!)

If you'd like more information about this roll of arms beyond the .pdf article noted above, you can see more, including sample pages - and buy the book - at http://www.appletonstudios.com/BooksandGames.htm

And Speaking of the State of Vermont ...

What had led me to the follow-up story about the Vermont coat of arms with a pig as one of the cow's spots was a comment in an April 28, 2013 article on VTDigger.com entitled In This State: The branding of Vermont, wherein they interview Scott Reilly, an archivist at the Vermont State Archives in Middlesex, and give a nice history of the coat of arms of the state, complete with illustrations of various depictions through the years.

My personal favorite example from the article is this one, full of bright colors and depth and plenty of gilding, but others pay prefer some of the historical examples, ranging in date from 1779 to 1903.

Interestingly, it wasn't until 1862 (right in the middle of the American Civil War) that Vermont codified a description of the state's coat of arms: The fields and trees are green, the sky yellow, the Green Mountains blue. A pine tree dominates the center, flanked by three sheaves of wheat and a red cow. The crest is a buck's head with antlers, and two crossed pine branches appear at the base and sides. A ribbon bearing the motto "Freedom and Unity" floats across the base.

I could probably add a lot more here, but it would continue to be duplicative of the article.  If you'd like to know more about the origins and history of the landscape coat of arms of the State of Vermont, feel free to follow the link here to the article and read it for yourself.  It can be found on-line at http://vtdigger.org/2013/04/28/in-this-state-the-branding-of-vermont/

An Overdue Follow-Up

This is a little overdue, but I didn't see the follow-up to my earlier post until very recently.

I had blogged about the inmates at a correctional institution who had made the cow on the Vermont coat of arms decal to be placed on state police cruisers into a spotted cow; specifically, one with a spot shaped like a pig.  That post can be found at http://blog.appletonstudios.com/2012/02/heraldry-in-news.html

Now I've run across a news story from shortly after that which noted that the police were closing the case.


State officials said female inmates at the prison work center in Windsor are responsible for altering the state seal back in November 2009, putting pigs on the side of Vermont state police cruisers, but exactly who did it may remain a mystery.  "At this point all we can tell is how many women had access to the file, and who they were," Corrections Commissioner Andy Pallito said. "Really being able to tell who manipulated the file last is virtually impossible without somebody stepping forward and saying I did it."

The story noted that one group was hoping to keep the image alive. They've created a Facebook page called "Save the Vermont Pigs," and had upwards of 1,000 fans.  "It is a really good opportunity for us to band together as Vermonters and show that we can have a laugh in a little bit of an awkward situation, and it is certainly not the first time we have done that," says Cid Sinclair with Save the Vermont Pigs.  Sinclair said this was prank could be used to do some good. He would like to see the decals auctioned off-- an idea that has the support of Lt. Governor Phil Scott.

There's a bit more in the story, of course, along with some pictures of the decals and a close-up of the offending pig spot.  You can read the whole thing on-line at http://www.wcax.com/story/16948395/police-close-case-on-altered-vt-state-police-decals

I have to admit, I'd be tempted to buy one of those decals myself!

A Little More Heraldry in Heidelberg

Okay, barring something unforeseen (like me finding some more photographs of heraldry in the city that I just have to share with you!), this should be the last installment of some of the heraldry that we saw in the city of Heidelberg during our stay there last fall.

Enjoy!

Every time I look at this display of heraldry I see something new.  I love the "realistic" depiction of the ermine tails on the mantle.  And the inescutcheon of Bavaria with a smaller inescutcheon denoting the King of Bavaria as a Prince Elector of the Holy Roman Empire.  And the collar of the Order of the Golden Fleece.  Among other things.

The armorial display above is a great example of the German use of multiple crests to go with (at least some of) the quarters in the arms.

A beautifully simple coat of arms!

Heraldry in the Holy Spirit Church, Heidelberg

Are you getting tired of photograph after photograph of some of the heraldry I saw in Heidelberg?  Me neither.  But all good things must come to an end; we were really there for only two and a half days, and were spending a fair bit of time looking for addresses and sites related to my German ancestors there, so there really is only so much heraldry that I could have photographed during our stay.

Anyway, this will probably be the last post of heraldry in the Heiliggeistkirche off the main Market Square in Heidelberg.  And there may be one more post with some miscellaneous heraldry seen in and about the city, but that will be the last of it.  (Unless I go through the photographs one more time and find something that I simply have to share, of course!)

Anyway, there are some great carved heraldic monuments in the Holy Spirit Church, fine examples of both German heraldry and the stonecarver's art, most done in the red sandstone from which so many things in the city are made.  Enjoy!

The arms over her right shoulder, on the left as you look at the picture above, are very similar to the arms of Nuremberg with the main charge being a crowned frauenadler (in English, harpy), only here there are four mullets of six points surrounding the frauenadler.

I very much doubt that the lower shield here is the arms of Ireland, Azure a harp Or.  (Just a suspicion on my part, but I bet I'm right.)

Heraldry in the Movies!

Facebook poster, fellow blogger, and heraldry enthusiast (among several other things) Father Guy Sylvester pointed out that, in light of the new Iron Man 3 movie opening next weekend, discussions will start up again about what the coolest thing about Tony Stark (played by Robert Downey, Jr.).  Father Guy notes that the first Iron Man movie has already revealed "THE. coolest. thing. ever. In the scene showing Tony in his private jet we see on the wall behind him that TONY STARK HAS A COAT OF ARMS!!!"

I'd blazon it as Azure a double-headed eagle displayed and on a chief Argent three mullets Azure.

Unfortunately, it appears to follow a common "bucket shop" motif of placing the surname on what should be the motto scroll beneath the shield.