Personal Arms

[FossilHunter]

Your design is quite nice.

Simple curiosity: My understanding is that in the USA there is no official regulation on arms, except that for seals, badges, medals and such for the Executive office and States of the country with a heraldic authority within the US armed services forming the nucleus of heraldic support to government. My curiosity, then, is how does a person in the USA arrive at an authenticated personal arms. Or, do people assume arms if not inherited? Without a USA heraldic authority, could someone else take imbrius's arms as their own?

One option used by Americans assuming arms is to register them with the South African heraldic authority which is open to anyone with the time and money to do it. My understanding is that arms registered in this manner are recognized by most European heraldic authorities.