[Ansteorra] New Crowns and Coronets

[Hillary Greenslade]

Very glad to see that Star Principal Herald, Emma, and Rhiannon have encouraged artisans to consult the Heraldic law and guidelines; perhaps even having Star Principal validate that a potential design passes the laws.  Having known at least 3 or 4 royal /nobility who did not, the mistake in designing a coronet that is not allowed for kingdom and/or SCA standards can be costly and time consuming.  Having spoken to several coronet artisans at Pennsic and Gulf Wars, the merchants generally expect the customer has had their designed approved by the Heralds office.  

As a student of coronet designs in history, I've bookmarked the following sites for SCA coronet designs: 
http://www.goldenstag.net/MiscSCA/CrownsAndCoronets.htm
http://www.flickr.com/groups/scacrowns/pool/  
     (love the shots with coronet and eye's only - a great guessing game to figure who it is)

Sumptuary Laws of SCA Kingdoms: 
http://sca-garb.freeservers.com/articles/sumptuary.htm  (article's a bit out of date, links may not work)

In addition to SCA artisans, here are some SCA merchants of some experience, a starter list...
http://www.dragonsjewels.com/Misc1.htm (Drachenstein Treasures from Gulf Wars)
http://www.darkridgejewels.com/  (Lyn was apprentice to Drachensteins, now has her own shop at Gulf Wars)
http://www.signetring.com/Coronet/coronet.htm  (created the Bryn Gwlad coronets)
http://www.sunshadowdesign.com/index.html
http://www.billdawsonmetalsmith.com/index.html
http://www.blackwood.tierranet.com/
http://www.scametalwork.com/coronets_index.html
http://www.craftyfox.com/coronets/gold-plated.html  (may not be actively taking commissions)

and good books on the subject: 
Crown Jewels of Europe by Prince Michael of Greece 
Royal Jewels: From Charlemagne to the Romanovs edit by Diana Scarisbrick and others 
Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures, by Fredrik Hiebert 
              (Love the coronet in this book, the projections are removeable, so it can be a flat hat and also folds for travel.)

Good luck with this project, Hillary