Getting a COA registered

[auld argonian]

So basically what we're talkin' about is a wee bit of artwork on a shield background that lets the person who sees it know who you are? Maybe there was a use for that back in the age of massive illiteracy but now it's just kind of another decorative bit...why not just say that you've designed a LOGO for yourself and have it registered as a trademark®...

I'm sorry but any contemporary use of a Coat of Arms seems like a a bit of a pretension. Do people in the UK actually ride around in their autos with their coats of arms emblazoned on the doors? I'd think that a certain degree of anonymity would be a good security measure for anyone who might be considered wealthy or important....why advertise that you're "somebody"? I think that age has passed.

I suppose that it's a fun thing to do...to a certain extent...my farthest back Scottish ancestor had a really nifty lookin' coat of arms and I do admit that I've been tempted to do a somewhat cleaned up version as a t-shirt only because it's great color and great geometry and would probably be mistaken for a comic book hero's emblem (like the Superman "S") but it would only be as a fun thing...I know full well that it belonged to him and not me.

I have followed this with some interest since it has, for the most part, been a very good academic discussion.

Best

AA

[macwilkin]

So basically what we're talkin' about is a wee bit of artwork on a shield background that lets the person who sees it know who you are? Maybe there was a use for that back in the age of massive illiteracy but now it's just kind of another decorative bit...why not just say that you've designed a LOGO for yourself and have it registered as a trademark®...

I'm sorry but any contemporary use of a Coat of Arms seems like a a bit of a pretension. Do people in the UK actually ride around in their autos with their coats of arms emblazoned on the doors? I'd think that a certain degree of anonymity would be a good security measure for anyone who might be considered wealthy or important....why advertise that you're "somebody"? I think that age has passed.

I suppose that it's a fun thing to do...to a certain extent...my farthest back Scottish ancestor had a really nifty lookin' coat of arms and I do admit that I've been tempted to do a somewhat cleaned up version as a t-shirt only because it's great color and great geometry and would probably be mistaken for a comic book hero's emblem (like the Superman "S") but it would only be as a fun thing...I know full well that it belonged to him and not me.

I have followed this with some interest since it has, for the most part, been a very good academic discussion.

Best

AA

Tradition means giving a vote to most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about. All democrats object to men being disqualified by the accident of birth; tradition objects to their being disqualified by the accident of death. Democracy tells us not to neglect a good man's opinion, even if he is our groom; tradition asks us not to neglect a good man's opinion, even if he is our father. -- G.K. Chesterton

Or, as C.S. Lewis warned us, Beware of chronological snobbery...

T.

[creagdhubh]

Tradition means giving a vote to most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about. All democrats object to men being disqualified by the accident of birth; tradition objects to their being disqualified by the accident of death. Democracy tells us not to neglect a good man's opinion, even if he is our groom; tradition asks us not to neglect a good man's opinion, even if he is our father. -- G.K. Chesterton

Or, as C.S. Lewis warned us, Beware of chronological snobbery...

T.

I love it Todd!!! Cheers my friend and well said old chap!!!

[Bugbear]

Or, as C.S. Lewis warned us, Beware of chronological snobbery...

I don't know the context of C. S. Lewis's quote, but wouldn't that also apply to something like the following?

"My traditions are five-hundred years old, and your's are only three-hundred years old, so not as valid as mine..."
Some of the posts were leaning that direction.

Just had to get it out of my head before it drove me crazy.

[macwilkin]

I don't know the context of C. S. Lewis's quote, but wouldn't that also apply to something like the following?

"My traditions are five-hundred years old, and your's are only three-hundred years old, so not as valid as mine..."
Some of the posts were leaning that direction.

Just had to get it out of my head before it drove me crazy.

I would have to find the article that deals with the context of Lewis's warning, but both he and Chesterton were warning against those who look back and judge those in history by our standards today.

T.

[Bugbear]

I would have to find the article that deals with the context of Lewis's warning, but both he and Chesterton were warning against those who look back and judge those in history by our standards today.

T.

Oh! I wasn't reading either quite correctly, then.
Thanks, cajunscot.

[SlackerDrummer]

So basically what we're talkin' about is a wee bit of artwork on a shield background that lets the person who sees it know who you are? Maybe there was a use for that back in the age of massive illiteracy but now it's just kind of another decorative bit...why not just say that you've designed a LOGO for yourself and have it registered as a trademark®...

The age of "paper heraldry" has existed for several hundred years now and is surely a tradition in and of itself. In fact there are many coats of arms that have existed for more than a hundred years that would have made horrible identifiers on the field of battle. There is nothing to stop someone from developing a logo for themselves, but logos do not have the same inherent meaning that a coat of arms does.

I'm sorry but any contemporary use of a Coat of Arms seems like a a bit of a pretension. Do people in the UK actually ride around in their autos with their coats of arms emblazoned on the doors? I'd think that a certain degree of anonymity would be a good security measure for anyone who might be considered wealthy or important....why advertise that you're "somebody"? I think that age has passed.

If so, they are more likely to have a very small (not more than an inch or so) painting of the crest from their arms above the door handle. But the simple answer is, no, they are not likely. Stationery, however is a different story.

I suppose that it's a fun thing to do...to a certain extent...my farthest back Scottish ancestor had a really nifty lookin' coat of arms and I do admit that I've been tempted to do a somewhat cleaned up version as a t-shirt only because it's great color and great geometry and would probably be mistaken for a comic book hero's emblem (like the Superman "S") but it would only be as a fun thing...I know full well that it belonged to him and not me.

In point of fact it does belong to you. Or at least a variation of it does.

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

My comments are in BOLD:

So basically what we're talkin' about is a wee bit of artwork on a shield background that lets the person who sees it know who you are?

Right, except that "wee bit of artwork" follows certain, specific, rules.

Maybe there was a use for that back in the age of massive illiteracy but now it's just kind of another decorative bit...why not just say that you've designed a LOGO for yourself and have it registered as a trademark®...

Well you could, but it wouldn't be "heraldry" in the accepted sense of the word. Semiotics is the science of non-linguistic sign systems. Heraldry (or more properly armoury) is such a system, although it possesses a diversity of functions and attributes which are not necessarily found in other semiotic systems, such as road signs and logos; for one thing it is hereditary, and that is probably it's single most important atttribute.

You see, heraldry today, just as much as in the 13th century, serves the purpose of identifying the exact relationship of all of the various members of vastly extended families. It is, in effect, a series of technicolour markers in a family's genealogy; multi-coloured decorations on each branch of a family tree.

I'm sorry but any contemporary use of a Coat of Arms seems like a a bit of a pretension.

If taken to an extreme, it could be seen in that light; however in its normal day-to-day applications the use of personal heraldry rarely rivals the pretentious display of "brand names" on tee shirts and baseball caps. A small signet ring somehow lacks the vulgarity of a fake, rhinestone encrusted, "Rolex" watch.

Do people in the UK actually ride around in their autos with their coats of arms emblazoned on the doors?

Well, yes, and probably more than you'd imagine. They do it in the USA and Canada as well. Typically the arms (or more usually the crest) emblazoned on a private motorcar measure no more than about 2"x2" and is certainly more discrete than the "in-your-face" bumper stickers one encounters on most vehicles.

I'd think that a certain degree of anonymity would be a good security measure for anyone who might be considered wealthy or important....why advertise that you're "somebody"? I think that age has passed.

Actually, we seem to live in an age of "look at me" celebrity, where everybody from rap stars to the pool dude married to the middle-aged actress clamors for attention. Compared to the blinged out excesses of your average Cadillac Escalade, or the rice rocket Subaru with the 1000 watt stereo blaring in the trunk, a postage stamp size bit of heraldry on the door of a car is pretty much invisible.