A Crest of Masters family?

[Joseph McMillan]

I am thinking about making a picture of the family crest that I could frame for my home, and possibly use the crest to be made for a kilt buckle or on a fly plaid broach. Y'all's help and advice will be greatly appreciated. I have read not a few of the threads here in the Heraldry Forum, so I realized that I cannot display in my home a picture of the Masters' coat of arms that is shown on the Masters' website. As I now understand, that coat of arms was made for a specific person, who has been long dead. Is that correct? (If so, that is why I changed my avatar from the coat of arms to the Buchanan tartan). I did read the website: http://www.lyon-court.com/lordlyon/216.181.html

So I thought I could have the crest displayed in my home. Is that allowable according to Scottish authority (the Court of the Lord Lyon)?

So, apart from the crest vs coat of arms terminology issue, already addressed by others:

Even under Scottish law, there's nothing to prevent someone from displaying a picture of any coat of arms he wants inside his own house, particularly provided he doesn't misrepresent it as his own. Of course, your profile says you live in Texas, where Lord Lyon's writ doesn't run, so perhaps the question is more usefully addressed in a wider context of good heraldic practice.

Let's start with the misconception that a coat of arms is only for a specific person. It is actually for a specific person, or more rarely persons, and his descendants in the direct legitimate male line. (I'm simplifying a bit; there can be exceptions, but if they applied in this case you'd already know about it.) Thus, the question is: how do you know that...

The coat of arms that is part of my heritage is listed as Masters in The General Armory by Sir Bernard Burke, C.B, LL.D., Ulster King of Arms, 1884 on page 668.

You can only know this if you've traced your ancestry with a high degree of certainty to a person who legitimately bore the arms shown by Burke. The crest you give below is the one that goes with the first entry, which fortunately is identified as originating in a specific town and county (Ewdon, Shropshire). The only way to establish a right to use these arms and crest as your own is to do the genealogy.

The Crest is also listed but there is no motto.

English mottoes are borne at the discretion of the person using the arms; they're not part of the grant. There are certain mottoes that tend to be used over and over again and might be thought of as family mottoes, but there's nothing formally fixed about them. The situation is different in Scotland, but these arms are English. Which gets to the core point:

So would the crest be encircled with the strap and buckle without any words? Is this also called a badge?

A crest encircled by a strap and buckle is indeed a badge, specifically the badge worn by "followers" of the person whose crest is depicted. People who have their own (Scottish) arms do not use a strap and buckle around their crests, because following yourself just takes you around in circles.

In any case, it is a specifically Scottish custom (albeit not a very old one) and makes no sense used with English devices. There is no Clan Masters with a chief for you to follow.

If you identify for some reason with Buchanan, then the thing to do is to wear the Buchanan clansman's badge. But be aware that the whole sept thing is at least as fictitious as the notion that everyone with the same last name is entitled to the same arms. There may have been a family named Masters that was under the protection of or otherwise affiliated with the Buchanans, but that doesn't make everyone named Masters a member of Clan Buchanan. Particularly not the specific Masters family of Ewdon, Shropshire, whose arms you've identified.

There's undoubtedly more to be said, but this is enough for now.