Post Your Granted, Assumed or Desired Arms

[Cygnus]

Just out of curiosity who do you plan on petitioning your arms from? I'm just starting to understand the world of heraldry but still pretty clueless. Thanks.

There are a number of routes; many people will assume their own arms and register them with a group or society that records them (such as the American College of Heraldry).

Others (myself included) feel that grants of arms from an officially recognized government authority carry more weight. In the case of those who bear the surname of a Scottish ancestor, are descended from a Scot who had is own arms and bear his/her surname, or who are Scottish citizens, the Court of the Lord Lyon is the place to petition such a grant.

If you're interested in the processes associated with making such a petition, the Society of Scottish Armigers have an unbelievably helpful page with links to some very informative PDFs.

[SlackerDrummer]

On my monitor the shield measures 2.25 inches from top to base point; if you reduce it to 3/4 of an inch (the size it might be on letter paper, a calling card, or the rim of a plate) I'm not sure the lion's head erased would be all that legible (it might be mistaken for a bit of current stuck to the plate).

Keep in mind that the resolution of your monitor is 72 dots per inch. A laser printer is going to be a minimum of 300 dots per inch and getting calling cards printed off-set by a good printer will be a minimum of 600 and possibly better. In other words, if you want an image to look good at 3/4" high on paper needs to look clear and crisp at about 3" high on your computer.

[werewolves]

Wonderfully unique artwork!

Thank you!

[Woot22]

There are a number of routes; many people will assume their own arms and register them with a group or society that records them (such as the American College of Heraldry).

Others (myself included) feel that grants of arms from an officially recognized government authority carry more weight. In the case of those who bear the surname of a Scottish ancestor, are descended from a Scot who had is own arms and bear his/her surname, or who are Scottish citizens, the Court of the Lord Lyon is the place to petition such a grant.

If you're interested in the processes associated with making such a petition, the Society of Scottish Armigers have an unbelievably helpful page with links to some very informative PDFs.

Awesome, thanks for the info.

[WVHighlander]

Cygnus,

How long did the process from Scotland take you to get your COA?

[Cygnus]

Cygnus,

How long did the process from Scotland take you to get your COA?

WVHighlander,

I actually haven't even sent in a petition yet; I'm still working on getting all of my proofs in order, deciding on the form that I would like my arms to take, and putting a bit of money away here and there to pay the fees.

Doing the genealogical leg-work is a time-consuming process, but I'm enjoying it.

There are a number of other forum members that could answer your question - hopefully one of them will chime in.

EDIT: I should also point out that the final form that the arms take is up to Lord Lyon; he could make and/or suggest changes to any requested arms before having the letters patent drawn up.

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

Thank you, Scott, for your feedback - it is greatly appreciated!

I actually posted something much as you described on the first page of this thread (though I drew the bordure counter compony rather than chequey). I like those arms, but actually like these ones better.

The arms upon which I am basing these were granted to James Swan in 1828, the blazon is as follows:

Azure, on a chevron between two swans in chief and a lion passant guardant in base Argent, a heart Proper between two falconer's gloves Sable tassled Gules

It's a pretty busy shield, but I am fond of it. And I'd be very happy if the only charge that is difficult to discern from a seal or card is the lion's head; there are many coats of arms that would be nearly impossible to accurately read at a smaller size due to the number of small charges on them.

I often change my mind, and I will certainly have plenty of time to do so before these arms become permanent; though I am almost certain it will be included as my "desired arms" when I do petition my own arms.

As I said earlier, the only one who has to be satisfied, is you!

[WVHighlander]

Bringing this back one more time. After some thought I may have to go toward something a bit different.

Argent, a fess gules between in chief, a raven beaked and armed sable, between two cross Moline sable, and in base a bear rampant of the third.

I think I have that right.

[Chas]

Bringing this back one more time. After some thought I may have to go toward something a bit different.

Argent, a fess gules between in chief, a raven beaked and armed sable, between two cross Moline sable, and in base a bear rampant of the third.

I think I have that right.

Hi,

I think the blazon would be better as:

Argent between in base a bear rampant and in chief between two crosses moline a raven beaked and armed Sable a fess Gules.

One normally blazons the chief first and then work downwards but this way it separates the two 'betweens' and also elliminates the 'of the third'.

Giving you something like this:



Regards

Chas

[English Bloke]

Please excuse my higgorance. I know little to naught of heraldry. I appreciate there may be some ettiquette issues but what is the actual legality of drawing up arms on the back of an envelope with a box of crayons and without any formal process, displaying it on your t-shirt, car sticker, signet ring, tattoo on right cheek, whatever.

Not asking for legal advice here by the way. Just a general, legally you can do what you like or No you can be prosecuted type steer... I'm also aware it's probably not the done thing.

No intention of going down any roads either, just curious is all.

Cheers!