Hi All,

I just finished the antiquing on a small gift I made for my grandfather.

Earlier this year he decided to move to an assisted living apartment, as his health has been deteriorating. One of the items in his house that I'd always loved was this:


Nobody in the family knew anything about it, but it had hung on my Great Grandfather's lake cabin wall since anyone could remember.

As he was downsizing, my Grandfather asked the family if anyone wanted furniture/stuff from the house, and the shield was one of my only requests.

Over the summer I spent some time looking at it, and for more info about it. My great grandfather's last name (father's mother's father) is a rare one. Neither his name nor this blazon appear in the Armories General, but a derivative name IS listed, along with a VERY similar blazon.

Exploring further I found that, hidden under the varnish on the back of the piece was my Great Grandfather's name along with "Fecit" and a date in the very early 1930's. Fecit is an artists term (latin) and means "made by my hand".

My Grandfather is a big fan of family genealogy, and so I thought I'd re-create the piece, along with a coat of arms which belongs to a branch of the family and IS in the A/G.

The first, a recrafting of my Great Grandfather's work:


And the second, based on an old drawing in some family records and directly traceable:


Please excuse the curling of the pieces, they will be fixed to board and framed in walnut (a nod to the original carved pc). I have a little more to do to even out the colour, and then when everything is dried a light wax.

I had originally though about dyeing things to match the various colours of the blazons, but gave up the idea as overly complex and muddy.

As always commentary and helpful critique is welcome.
I'll try to get a shot of it finished and framed if I have time before I give it to my Grandfather.