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  1. #18
    Mike_Oettle's Avatar
    Mike_Oettle is offline Oops, it seems this member needs to update their email address
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    To my mind, MacMillan of Rathdown gave a pretty concise explanation.
    But just to make things very clear, coat-armour originally belonged solely to a single person. Other members of his family would bear similar arms, if they needed to, but not identical.
    Only after the concept of coat-armour had been generally accepted (but still as far back as the Middle Ages), did the practice emerge of granting arms to corporates, such as guilds and municipal corporations.
    This did not happen suddenly, since there was a fair bit of opposition to it. A remark often made at the time was: “You cannot hang common seal.” That is to say, one could hang a man who was a traitor, but the common seal of a guild or a city could not be treated in the same way.
    But in time the concept was accepted.
    The way it applies to the MacPherson Clan Association is that the association has been granted arms which any member may display, but only to indicate membership of the association.
    Display in a manner that suggests that the person displaying the arms is its owner is strictly forbidden under Scots law. While the Lord Lyon has no power in the United States to enforce this, common courtesy requires that the rule be observed nonetheless.
    Similarly, once the arms of the Tennessee Valley Scottish Society are official (that is, granted by Lyon Court or registered with some other registry), its members may also display it to indicate their membership, but not implying that they own the arms.

    Fine work, Harold. If the society does apply to Lyon, it should be aware that some changes may be required (although this might not be the case).
    The lion crest is probably sufficiently different to be allowed as it is, since the Scottish royal crest has a red lion, and the cotton beneath the lion is quite distinctive.
    I should mention that the stars (which will be blazoned as mullets) ought not to have any line around them (there is a grey one in Harold’s drawing). This is because the mullets are argent (white/silver), which contrasts nicely with the blue field of the chief (the upper part of the shield).
    In Joe Macmillan’s arms the mullets argent have a blue fimbriation to make them stand out from the gold field of his shield.
    Regards,
    Mike
    The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life.
    [Proverbs 14:27]

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