ANSTHRLD - Device questions...

Timothy A. McDaniel tmcd at jump.net
Mon Aug 21 11:59:47 PDT 2000


Cahira <cahira_of_bonwicke at yahoo.com> wrote:
> The problem is, he has 2 colors touching.

A bit of background that's not actually relevant to this
particular case: two colors "touching", like side-by-side, is not
per se a problem.  "Per pale sable and azure", meaning that the
viewer's-left half of the shield is black and the viewer's-right
half is blue, is registerable.  "Quarterly sable and azure" is
just as fine.  However, there's an enumerated list of the field
divisions that are allowed to have low contrast between its
parts.  "Barry sable and azure", for example, where there are
alternating horizontal stripes of black and blue (the Leather
Flag, for example), is not registerable.

Further, color "on" color, a charge resting *on* a field or on
another charge, *does* require good contrast, meaning that
color-on-color is forbidden.

> Blue background, gold border, black eagle holding a
> silver thunderbolt in its talons

"Azure, an eagle sable [posture] (maintaining|sustaining) a
thunderbolt? argent, a bordure Or".  This *is* a problem: the
black each is *on* the blue field, and that's color-on-color.
I really doubt that there are significant numbers of period
examples where he can try to argue a Documented Exceptions claim.

> I asked one person already. They suggested making the eagle
> gold. Would that work?

That would solve that particular problem.

I have a few more questions about the design:

1) What posture is the eagle in?  A few ways that you can draw an
   eagle are not even registerable.  Almost any way has to be
   blazoned.

   The default for an eagle is "displayed", which is shown on the
   back of the US dollar bill and pre-2000 US quarter.  You may
   notice that they differ in how half the wings are shown: as to
   whether the tips are "elevated" or "inverted" is artistic
   licence, and I think one was more common on the Continent and
   the other more in England.  Eagles were overwhelmingly
   displayed in period, and the only other period displayed bird
   I can think of is the phoenix, so I would strongly advocate
   "displayed" for any eagle.

   With a "typical SCA" design like this, I'll bet that the bird
   is "striking", "rising", "stooping", or some other posture
   with an angled body in a side view, probably with claws
   extended.  While unattested in period for eagles (except for
   perhaps a few examples of which I am unaware), these postures
   are nevertheless blazonable and registerable.

   Let me emphasize again the distinction between "period" and
   "registerable".  Some period things are non-registerable, and
   some registerable things are non-period.  While I try to
   encourage people to go period, we cannot decline something
   that's registerable but non-period.

   You should get a heraldic artist to draw it, because there's a
   risk that any random drawing would be halfway between striking
   and stooping, say, and if we can't clearly blazon it as one or
   the other, it'll be returned.

2) How big is the thing in its claws?  Look again at a pre-2000
   quarter.  The eagle is holding a bundle of arrows in its
   claws.  Such a small charge is called "maintained" in the
   SCA.  It is blazoned, but it is not worth any difference.

   If the whatever-it-is is large enough, we (but not the real
   world) call is "sustained".  The test is that if you separate
   the eagle and the widget, are they of roughly the same size
   and "visual weight"?

   I'd bet this is "maintained".  You should also get an
   experienced heraldic artist for this, because if it's drawn
   in-between, it gets returned.

3) What is the thing in its claws?  I'll bet $5 that it's like

   /|/|/|/|/|

   that is, a jagged angled thing that you'd see in a cartoon as
   a lightning bolt.  We call that a "shazam", and because it's
   modern, we return it.

   A heraldic thunderbolt can be seen at
       http://www04.u-page.so-net.ne.jp/ta2/saitou/ie401/Jpglosst.htm
   Yes, it *is* supposed to look like a flying flaming electric cigar.
   Go figure.

   (You should, by the way, bookmark
       http://www04.u-page.so-net.ne.jp/ta2/saitou/ie401/index.htm
   Warning: it's Victorian, so a lot of the scholarship has been
   superceded, and it's non-SCA, so for both reasons a lot of
   things are unregisterable.  However, it gives a lot of
   information about charges, and it can be a starting place for
   research.)

   There is a heraldic lightning bolt.  There are two in the back
   of the thunderbolt.  However, notice that they (unlike
   "shazams") are embattled:
     _   _   _   _   _
   _| |_| |_| |_| |_|

   but with arrowheads on each end.  I do not know if it was used
   in period, but it's registerable.  At best it had to have been
   very rare in period, so I'd see if he were amenable to other
   charges instead.

If I were there with him, I'd see if I could convince him to look
thru Foster's or some other collection of period arms so he could
get an idea of what period arms look like.

I would also find out what's important to him: colors?  a bird?
a lightning bolt?  period style?  and work with those.

If, for example, black, blue, gold, and a bird are important, I'd
start with "Or, an eagle displayed (sable|azure) ..." -- that is,
a gold *field* and black or blue *bird*.  Since it's a metal
field, you can have a black bird but also have, elsewhere on the
field, blue charges -- or the reverse, a blue bird and black
charges elsewhere.

Unfortunately, eagles were common enough in major period arms
that that would conflict.  Other charges or design changes have
to be done.  Slapping on a bordure to get that difference is
common enough in the SCA, and it's certainly doable, but it's so
common that it's something of a cliche, so I prefer to advise
clients to consider other choices.  If there's some other charge
he likes, he can put it on the eagle.  He can also place charges
on the field.  Putting one in each of the three points of the
shield is moderately common in the SCA, so I'd also point out the
possibility of on echarge in dexter chief (viewer's upper left),
or "semy", a number (6-10) strewn over the field, or even strewn
just on the eagle.  Charges that were frequently used in period
for strewn charges or secondary charges on the field include

- "mullets", or stars -- but eagles + stars will make people
  think "America!".  If there's a little hole in the center, it's
  called a "spur rowel" and represents the business end of a
  spur.
- "escallops", or seashells.
- crosses, either plain or with various bits on the ends of the
  arms.
- the "crescent" has its points up; other orientations are
  registerable and blazonable but are hardly period.
- "roundels", or filled-in circles.
- "annulets", or empty circles (like "O").
- "lozenges", which are diamond <> shapes filled in.  With a
  diamond-shaped hole in the center, it's a "mascle"; with a
  circular hole, it's a "rustre".

Daniel de Lincolia
-- 
Tim McDaniel is tmcd at jump.net; if that fail,
    tmcd at us.ibm.com is my work account.
"To join the Clueless Club, send a followup to this message quoting everything
up to and including this sig!" -- Jukka.Korpela at hut.fi (Jukka Korpela)
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