I Really Don't Think I Understand

No, really, I don't think I understand the reasoning.  If a logo is not the least bit heraldic, then why place it on a shield shape?  What can the motivation for that be?  It's not like the standard heater shield shape is at all intuitive, not like a square, or a rectangle, circle, or oval is.  And yet, I regularly see non-heraldic logos placed on shields.

The example that got me to thinking about this anomaly was on a business card that I picked up several years ago while attending a conference on heraldry in North Carolina.  As an adjunct to that conference, those attendees who wished had the opportunity to visit the rare books collection at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.  Since I'm never one to pass up the opportunity to peruse old books, I went along.  But while there, my eye was caught by the UNC Greensboro logo on the business cards there.

And here's a sharper version from the University's website:

See what I mean?  I find myself regularly drawn to shield shapes, since I'm always on the lookout for heraldry and its use in the United States today and in the past.  But this isn't heraldry, is it?  Yes, it's on a shield shape, but that is its only relationship to a coat of arms.

The colors of the logo are the school colors: gold, white, and navy blue.  The date, 1891, refers to the school's establishment (at that time, as the State Normal and Industrial School.  It's had several name changes since then).  The primary figure I first took to be Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom, but it may simply be a representation of "Spiro, the Spartan," the student body there being the Spartans.  (As was the student body at my old college, Michigan State University.  But our colors were green and white.)  The figure being female, it may also refer back to the university's founding as a women's college.

But for all of that, it's not heraldry.  So why is it on a shield?  (And its not even an old Greek shield, or a roundel, which would at least keep the theme of "Spartans" going.  But a heater shield?  Not so much.)  To steal a line from the movie Shakespeare In Love, "It's a mystery."

The Symbolism in One City's Coat of Arms

A book in the Images of America Series entitled Kinston, by Nina Moore (Arcadia Publishers, Charleston, South Carolina, 2002), gives the history and symbolism of most of the various charges and emblems in the coat of arms of the City of Kinston, North Carolina.

These arms were granted to the City in 1960 by the College of Arms in London, following a campaign by Marion A. Parrot, who was influenced by the fact that when he was stationed in England during WWII, he noticed that all of the towns in that country had their own coat of arms. Since Kinston was about to celebrate the 200th anniversary of its founding in 1762, he thought that his city should have a coat of arms, too.

According to the book Kinston, "[t]he crown int he middle represents Kinston's original name of Kingston in honor of King George III.  The gold lion symbolizes courage and fortitude, and the two sprigs of golden tobacco refer to Kinston's principle [sic] industry.  Reminiscent of the Tuscarora War, a sword and an arrow are crossed on the bottom.  The blue and white waves under the cross sword and arrow are the River Neuse upon which the Town of Kinston is situated.  The female figure on the right [well, heraldic "right," or dexter] holds a cornucopia, representing prosperity, and on the left [heraldic "left," sinister] stands a Native American, a brave of the Neuse Tribe, smoking a 'pipe of peace."

I didn't find anything to explain the meaning of the unicorn's head crest, nor of the ermine fess.

The City of Kinston is the county seat of Lenoir County, North Carolina, which has its own coat of arms.

Something Else Not To Do

As a contrast to the "kitchen-sink" school of heraldry, which tries to incorporate everything, including the kitchen sink, from its history into its coat of arms, there are some very nice, simply, easily identifiable civic coats of arms in the United States.

Unfortunately, these are sometimes perhaps a little too easily identifiable, as the arms of a different entity entirely.  One of the most egregious examples I have run across of this is the arms of New Bern, North Carolina.

As you can see, they have simply taken for their own the arms of the Canton of Bern, Switzerland.

Of course, it's not just similarly-named cities which have misappropriated these arms to themselves.  I believe I have posted before about this use of the arms by Road Bear RV Rentals & Sales in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Nice, simple, identifiable.  Identifiable as the arms of something else.  Sometimes it just makes me want to weep.

Heraldry in Charlotte, North Carolina

Returning back to Dallas, while sitting down for a quick bit of lunch between planes at the airport in Charlotte, North Carolina, I found one last bit of heraldry on this trip.

It was on the front of a Mexican restaurant called Tequileria. (Looking them up on-line, I find that, naturally enough given their name, they emphasize their “top shelf tequilas” and “impressive array of margaritas.”) I didn’t go in (I was eating at another establishment a short way away), but I did see this on the front wall of the store.

If I were to try to blazon this “armorial seal” (since as you can see they’ve tried to make it look like it’s been impressed into a wax seal), it would have to be something like: Per fess ... a bird close reguardant and per pale ... an agave plant (which is what they make tequila from) and ... well, I’m not quite sure what the thing in sinister base represents. It might be some sort of a maker’s mark, a C and A (without the crossbar) conjoined, or a C and an inverted V conjoined, or it might represent some sort of tool. Or I may be totally missing its signification here. The helm above the shield is that of a knight (facing front, visor up), with a crest of a swallow-tailed pennon on a pole. And it has a motto scroll below the shield, but no motto.  (You'd think that they could have used that space for something like "In tequila veritas" or something similar.)

What a great trip, confirming to me once again that “You can find heraldry (or at least things that are trying to look like heraldry) everywhere!”

A Final Bit of Heraldry in Raleigh, North Carolina

Also found on the grounds of the North Carolina state capitol in Raleigh is a monument to the three Presidents of the U.S. from North Carolina: Andrew Jackson, 1829-1837 (center); James K. Polk, 1845-1849 (left); and Andrew Johnston, 1865-1869 (right), and prominent in the center, the arms of the United States. Well, no, not exactly.

Even if we go ahead and assume that they are not using the usual Petra Sancta hatching for red (vertical lines), so that these here are the expected seven white stripes and six red ones (the official blazon is Paly of thirteen argent and gules), the arms of the United States do not have stars on the chief. In the example here, there are thirteen stars, representing the thirteen colonies which broke away from England and later formed the United States.

The addition of stars to the chief on the arms of the U.S. is, alas, a common error. For that matter, I have also found a number of depictions of the U.S. arms with seven red stripes and six white ones. Both of these errors mimic the national flag, but are not really a part of the coat of arms. So here we have a case where familiarity doesn’t breed contempt, exactly, but it does become the basis for error.

More Heraldry in Raleigh, North Carolina

Like the Veterans Memorial in High Point, North Carolina, that I wrote about a little while back (July 21, 2011, http://blog.appletonstudios.com/2011/07/heraldry-found-in-high-point-north_21.html), the North Carolina Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the grounds of the state capitol bears the symbols, sometimes heraldic, of the five major branches of the U.S. military services: the Army, the Navy, the Marines, the Air Force, and the Coast Guard.

Different versions of the insignia of the Army and Navy are given on the World War II memorial just a few steps away from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the Army having the full achievement of arms of the U.S.: a bald eagle bearing the arms of the US on its breast, maintaining a sheaf of olive branches in its dexter talon and a sheaf of arrows in its sinister talon, holding a scroll with the word E Pluribus Unum in its beak, the whole surmounted by a glory breaking through clouds and showing thirteen stars taking the place of a crest. The Navy bears the arms of the US with the addition of thirteen stars on the chief, surmounting two crossed anchors, the shield ensigned by an eagle.

Heraldry in Raleigh, North Carolina

This has been a traveling year for us! And, once again, wherever we’ve gone, we’ve seen heraldry. Some good, some bad, some real, some only heraldry-like.

In the course of one recent trip, we were able to spend a morning in Raleigh, North Carolina, and strolled about the grounds of the capitol building there. And, sure enough, there were coats of arms to be seen there!  (I know you're shocked.  Oh, wait, no you aren't!  And neither was I.)

This first one is from across the street from the capitol, on the building of the North Carolina Department of Agriculture, carved over the main entrance.

As you can see, it’s an amazing conglomeration of agricultural symbols: in chief, naturally enough, we have some tobacco leaves, as the premier crop in the state. But there are also a hanging balance, a plow in base, and an I’m not sure what in the center (I don’t find a description of it even at the NC Department of Agriculture website, but it almost has to be some kind of agricultural tool), flanked by ears of wheat (to dexter) and ears of corn (maize) (to sinister). Below the plow are the words “Founded 1877" and below that three cotton bolls. Here’s a color version in the form of a seal rather than on a shield from the North Carolina Department of Agriculture website.

(Non-)Heraldry in High Point, North Carolina, Part 8 of 8

So, we’ve talked about, and shown you, the real heraldry, “funky” heraldry, and even some made-up “heraldry” that can be found in High Point, North Carolina. But now we come to what I call the “non-heraldry” portion of this trip. By that I mean, the places where heraldry or a coat of arms would be an ideal display, but where instead we find simply a blank cartouche (or cartouches).

This first cartouche is on the pediment of the First United Methodist Church on Main Street.

And here, on the facade of another building, are not one, not two, but three empty cartouches in an otherwise really cool display of architectural decoration.

These empty places where heraldry could live just about drive me nuts sometimes. With a little more thought and effort, some really good armory could be placed there. It’s almost enough to make me want to go back with a ladder and some paint. But, no, I’ll be good. For some reason, some folks think painting on a building you don’t own is vandalism, even if what you’re trying to do is show folks that heraldry can be an important part of the architectural embellishment of a building. Maybe another time.

Heraldry in High Point, North Carolina, Part 7

Sometimes in High Point, I didn’t need to walk to see the heraldry; sometimes the heraldry was doing the walking around.

In this case, it was an older veteran with a tee shirt of the 3-6 Cavalry, Silver Spur. The 3rd Squadron, 6th Cavalry Brigade "Heavy Cav" was based at Camp Humphreys, South Korea from 1996 to 2002. The Silver Spurs were B Troop in the 3-6. The 3-6 flew Apache attack helicopters, the modern equivalent of medieval and later heavy cavalry. (Hence the cross sabers on the arms of the unit.) The 3rd Squadron, 6th Cavalry was inactivated on 15 June 2006.

Heraldry in High Point, North Carolina, Part 6

Continuing north on Main Street in High Point, North Carolina, we come to the Sheraton Towers, a great old (built in 1920, renovated in 1981) nine-story building of apartments for seniors and disabled non-assisted living, with an unusual “coat of arms” prominently displayed on its facade.

Frankly, I have no idea what this coat is supposed to represent, with its seven stars (five and two) around a ribbon or scroll bendwise sinister. Neither are the tinctures hatched or marked in any way, so anything else that I might have to say about it could only be speculation.

Still, it looks like heraldry and acts like heraldry, so who am I to say that it isn’t, just because I may not understand it?

Heraldry in High Point, North Carolina, Part 5

Heading back north on Main Street in High Point, North Carolina, I found the following in two of the windows of a commercial building.

Golden Chair, Inc. is the name of the company, whose showroom is in the building. (There are a lot of furniture companies in High Point.) They manufacture occasional chairs and sofa sets. The “arms” they use as their logo might be blazoned as Sable, a spring of three oak leaves between in chief two acorns, a chief trefoily counter-trefoily or.

Heraldry in High Point, North Carolina, Part 4

Across the street from the old U.S. Post Office building is another Art Deco building, the Guilford County Courthouse. It, too, is now commercial space, but as an historic building, the city has placed a plaque on it.

Just above that plaque is another marker which includes the Guilford County, North Carolina coat of arms. The arms themselves practically shout “designed by the English College of Arms.”

The arms might be blazoned as: Azure a lion passant or, in chief a hand proper maintaining a Cross Calvary bendwise sinister gules between two well heads and in base a buck’s head cabossed or. Crest: Issuant from a crest coronet or a hand proper maintaining a Cross Calvary gules. Supporters: D: A mastiff proper. S: A buck or.

A similar marker (in bronze, it looks like) appears on another historic building further north on Main Street.

The Guilford County website in its discussion of the coat of arms on its seal (http://www.co.guilford.nc.us/general/countyseal.php) calls the cross a “Passion Cross,” but Parker in his Glossary of Terms Used in Heraldry gives the term “Cross Calvary” or sometimes Holy cross for a Latin cross raised upon three steps, and notes that “The Passion Cross ... resembles the true Latin cross in form, but seldom occurs except when it is raised on three steps, and it is then called a Cross Calvary.” The website goes on to note:

“In July, 1981, the Board of County Commissioners adopted the official seal for Guilford County. The seal was a bicentennial gift to the County from Colonel James G. W. MacLamroc, County Historian.

The elements of the coat-of-arms come from the arms of Dr. David Caldwell, prominent educator, minister, physician, statesman and patriot; General Nathanael Greene, commander of colonial troops at the Revolutionary Battle of Guilford Courthouse and namesake of the county seat of Greensboro; and the first and second Earls of Guilford, for whom the County was named.

From the Caldwell arms come the gripped Passion Cross in the crest and on the shield [Burke’s General Armory blazons it a “cross calvary”], and the well heads [which Burke blazons the “tops of wells masoned”] of the shield. From the Greene arms come the buck of the supporters and the buck's head on the shield. From the Guilford arms come the lion of the shield, the ancient crown of the crest, and the mastiff of the supporters.

The motto Courage and Faith was felt to be characteristic of the County's first settlers: the English and Welsh Quakers on the west and south, the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians in the center, and the German Calvinists and Lutherans on the east.

The coat-of-arms/seal was devised by the York Herald[*] of the Royal College of Arms, London, England, under the direction of Colonel MacLamroc.”

* At that time, Sir Conrad Swan, later Garter Principal King of Arms.

Heraldry in High Point, North Carolina, Part 3

Strolling a few blocks south down Main Street from the Veterans Memorial, there’s a great Art Deco building that used to be the United States Post Office. Built in 1932, it’s now commercial space, but in addition to many of its Art Deco features (for those of you who really like that style), there are several eagles over the doorways and some of the windows with an odd variation of the arms of the United States.

(Purists among you may also note that the eagle is grasping three arrows in each of its talons, unlike the “official” eagle supporter of the arms of the U.S., where it is grasping an olive branch in its dexter talon and thirteen arrows in its sinister talon.)

The arms of the U.S. are Paly of thirteen argent and gules, a chief azure. Here, the chief has been rounded (enarched) to base, and a circle of thirteen stars has been placed on it, mimicking the canton of the earliest official U.S. flag, with its circle of thirteen stars.

Heraldry Found in High Point, North Carolina, Part 2

The next bit of heraldry I ran into was actually several bits of heraldry. On Main Street, directly across from the train station, is the High Point Veterans Memorial, in memory of those who served in the U.S. armed forces from World War I through the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

 On the face of the memorial are the insignia of the five branches of the military service: Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, and Coast Guard. As you can see from the close ups below, only the Army, Air Force and Coast Guard insignia use a “real” coat of arms on them.

The Army and Coast Guard use the arms of the United States, Paly of thirteen argent and gules, a chief azure, while U.S. Air Force has its own coat of arms consisting of a bleu celeste field charged with a gold thunderbolt and a white base nebuly (the thunderbolt flying above the clouds, as it were; a color version of the USAF arms is below).

What a great display of heraldry!

Heraldry Found in High Point, North Carolina, Part 1 (of 8)

This seems to be a summer with a lot of traveling for me. In early June, we went to Las Vegas, Nevada to visit with family, and I’ve shared with you a little heraldry, both real and not so much, that we saw there.

Then later in June I traveled to High Point, North Carolina to attend a weekend conference. And by the time you read this, I should have already returned from another conference in Lufkin, Texas, where I hope to prove once again that “you can find heraldry everywhere!”

But to get back to High Point. I had no idea that this little town in North Carolina would be such a hotbed of heraldic display. Taking a little time to wander about downtown with my camera, I found some real heraldry, some “funky” heraldry (that was based on real coats of arms, but which had been modified in one way or another), some totally made up heraldry, and a little non-heraldry, all of which I will share with you over the next several posts.

As a point of historical interest, High Point is named for the geographic “high point,” the greatest elevation between Goldsboro and Charlotte, NC (939 ft./286 m above sea level), identified by the survey crew for the NC railroad in about 1849. The elevation became the city namesake on the granting of a city charter on May 26, 1859.

The first coat of arms I noticed was on a building directly across the street from the hotel where I was staying. Up near the top of the building (which from the decorative elements I suspect used to be a bank) was the heraldic display below.

It’s a depiction of the reverse of a U.S. $20 gold piece, with the arms of the United States (Paly of thirteen argent and gules, a chief azure) on the breast of the eagle, with the other accouterments of the achievement of the U.S. arms about it. (Other panels had depictions of the obverse of the $20 gold piece on them, hence my thinking it maybe used to be a bank.)