Heraldry In and Around Dallas, Texas (circa 1998)

For the final installment of this “blast from the past” heraldry, we have two arms-like logos.

The first is the logo of the Assembly of God, a pentecostal and evangelical church.  Not only is the shield metal on metal (argent charge on an or field, and an or chief on an or field), but it’s pretty much unblazonable.  The AG is clearly the initials of the Assembly of God, and the chevron couped inverted is an open book, the Bible.  I keep trying to figure out what the thing underlining the A and G is supposed to represent, and have been unable to figure it out.  I keep thinking that it ought to be obvious, and attempt to work in a shape with the crossbar of the A and G and the descender of the G, but without success so far.

Finally, we have the shield-shaped logo of the Collin County Community College District, a round-bottomed shield with a detached chief.  (Or is it, really?  Could be a chief divided per fess?)

Since this photo was taken in 1998 the district has been rebranded, and is known now as Collin College, with the various campuses being a more integrated part of the organization.

Heraldry In and Around Dallas, Texas (circa 1998)

Today’s heraldic offerings from way back in 1998 are of a couple of companies which don’t seem to have lasted into 2012.

The first is the logo of Windsor Management Company.  I suppose if I had to blazon it, it would be: Quarterly: 1st, Vert two bendlets sinister sable; 2nd, Murrey [it's not really gules] four fleurs-de-lis argent (I’m not at all sure how to blazon the arrangement; it’s very odd); 3rd, Murrey seven fleurs-de-lis 1, 2, 1, 2, and 1 argent; 4th, Sable two bendlets vert.  I have no idea if the white and black edging should be considered a bordure or merely artistic frou-frou (to use a “technical heraldic term”).

The other is an achievement of arms-like logo used by Ted Prohaska Auto Painting and Collision Works.

The shield has a sinister arm in armor embowed; I’m not sure what the hand is supposed to be holding.  The shield is supported by two wolf-like lions standing on a “gas bracket” style compartment.  The helm, well, what can I say about the helm?  It’s hard to tell if it’s a knight’s helm (affronty with the visor up) or a royal helm (affronty with a barred grill).  It’s also difficult to tell if the thing on top of the helm is a cap of maintenance or a royal crown.  Whichever it is, it's being improperly used here.

Heraldry In and Around Dallas, Texas (circa 1998)

Here’s a sign I ran across on a trip up into Oklahoma back in 1998.

It’s from a billboard ad for Shelter Insurance agent Jerry Downs.  The shield I suppose could be blazoned as: Azure the words Shelter Insurance, a base wavy gules fimbriated all within a bordurelet argent.

I checked on-line (I don't get up by Durant as often as I used to), and Mr. Downs is apparently still selling Shelter Insurance in Durant, Oklahoma.  So if you’re in the area of Durant and need some additional insurance, you know where you can get it.  (Disclaimer: I have no relationship with either Jerry Downs or Shelter Insurance, and cannot speak to the value of purchasing insurance from them.  I merely note it as an option.)

Heraldic News from Canada!

In a post on the Facebook page for the Canadian Heraldic Authority earlier today, there’s a picture of the new tabard that the Royal Heraldry Society of Canada is donating to the Chief Herald.

From the Facebook post:

Entirely in royal blue, the tabard uses the colour emblematic of the governor general of Canada. ...The shield of the Royal Arms of Canada is embroidered on the tabard’s sleeves. The raven-bears on the central stripe are inspired by the supporters of the arms of the Canadian Heraldic Authority and honour the emblematic traditions of the First peoples. The stripes of alternating maple leaves, the quintessential national emblem of Canada, occupy the rest of the front and back of the tabard.  The tabard will be worn with the collar of office of the Chief Herald of Canada, in addition to white gloves and a hat decorated with the viceregal lion, being the crest of the Royal Arms of Canada and the emblem of the Governor General.

The tabard is a very nice piece of work, and not entirely traditional (generally, tabards have the arms on all four panels of the tabard: front, back, and both sleeves), but that is certainly in keeping with the way the CHA has adapted heraldic traditions for use in Canada and under the Canadian constitution.

Heraldry in the News!

In a sudden spate of news articles, the London papers are going ga-ga over the work of some embroiderers, a 10' x 10' banner to decorate the royal barge, the Spirit of Chartwell, for the Queen’s Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant next month.  The banner, of red velvet with gold fringe, has a Royal crown between the supporters of the Royal Arms - a lion guardant and a unicorn - above the Royal motto Dieu Et Mon Droit, all created, in “an opulent nod to the East End's pearly kings and queens” with gold-colored buttons of various styles and sizes and hand-sewn on with gold thread.

I especially liked the figures given in one of the stories about the banner:

5 seamstresses and 1 designer
4 months of sewing half a million (500,000!) buttons
250 sticking plasters for pricked fingers
3,000 cups of tea drunk while they sewed on the buttons
31 miles(!) of gold thread
250 needles used by the team

More detailed stories, with more photographs of the banner, can be found on-line at:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2145552/Queen-Jubilee-celebrations-2012-Banner-31-miles-thread-half-million-gold-buttons.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/may/17/diamond-jubilee-boat-buttons?newsfeed=true

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-18092434

Heraldry In and Around Dallas, Texas (circa 1998)

Today’s “blast from the past” heraldry from that collection of photos I was taking back in 1998 is the arms-like logo of the Olmsted-Kirk Paper Company, or O-K Paper for short.

I ran across this logo plastered all over the sides and front of one of their trucks sitting by the side of some railroad tracks in an industrial section of north Dallas.

At the time, they were also using this sturdy fellow, bearing their shield and protecting the letters that its customers were, it expected, sending through the mail.  (The idea of an envelope being a “coat of mail” is really a pretty good pun.  Or a pretty bad one, depending upon your point of view.)

While the company has changed its logo a bit since 1998, you can see that they have not modified it a whole lot; here’s the one they are using today.

Heraldry In and Around Dallas, Texas (circa 1998)

Having done beverage heraldry in the previous post, I thought I’d do some food heraldry in this one.

These are the arms of La Tasca Española, a Tex-Mex and Spanish cuisine restaurant north of downtown Dallas.  Their coat of arms logo even looks Spanish, doesn't it?  (Despite being painted on the squarer French-style shield.)

Surprisingly enough, given how much turnover there is in restaurants in the area, La Tasca Española is still open for business today, so if you ever get a hankin’ (as we say down here) for some decent Tex-Mex cuisine, now you know where to find it.

And to help you get there, here’s the logo of the Phillips 66 brand of gasoline.  (Or petrol, for my British friends.)  Gules the numbers 66 and on a chief argent the word Phillips sable.

The Phillips Petroleum Company was founded in 1917 in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, and is now a part of the ConocoPhillips Company.  (Not unlike how Dallas-based Mobil Oil Corporation is now a part of ExxonMobil.  If this keeps up, some day there will be only one gasoline company in the world, but it’ll have a really, really long name!)  In 1927, the company was testing a new formulation of gasoline in a car on U.S. Highway 66.  (Yes, the "Route 66" of song.)  The car was doing 66 miles per hour (106 km/h).  So they decided to name the new fuel Phillips 66 and placed the name on the same shield shape as those marking U.S. highways.  And we’ve been stuck with that name ever since.