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Re: assistance on metal-on-metal, color-on-color

Posted: 30 May 2016, 08:44
by GJKS
Chris Green wrote:Whether it is correct or not would depend on the heraldic artist. What is definitely inappropriate is be to depict the cross skewed vis-a-vis the helm.


I quote from Stephen Friar's book "The New Dictionary of Heraldry' (1987) where he says, "Present-day practice insists that crests should be of three dimensions. This, of course, is in keeping with the current 'medieval' philosophy of the heraldic authorities, who have also relaxed the rules relating to the position of the helmet, thereby avoiding some of the more ridiculous contortions required of crests in the past. However, this welcome return to medieval simplicity has inevitably restricted the number of devices available, stimulating the herald's ingenuity in the search for means of 'differencing' familiar beasts and devices."


Boutell in his "Boutell's Heraldry" (1983 Ed.) on Pg. 154 states, "To a great extent this problem ('...we find crests in profile on helms set affronté, and [i]vice versa' ) has been overcome by twisting the helm and crests a little so that they are more or less aligned, yet the blazon of the crest remains unambiguous".[/i]

Re: assistance on metal-on-metal, color-on-color

Posted: 30 May 2016, 11:14
by Chris Green
I am not an admirer of Friar, who had bees in his helm about a number of things. Boutell was more reliable, but of course "of his time". There are many modern examples of Esquires' helms affronté (in 2d) to allow for the correct alignment of the crest. Flexibility may now be considered the order of the day.

Re: assistance on metal-on-metal, color-on-color

Posted: 30 May 2016, 12:45
by Arthur Radburn
Chris Green wrote:Flexibility may now be considered the order of the day.
Most definitely. Innes of Learney wrote in Scots Heraldry (1934) that the rule that peers' and esquires' helmets must be shown in profile "is no longer observed in Scotland". The College of Arms has been depicting tilting helms affronté and knights' helmets in profile since the 1970s, where it is necessary to align with the crest. The Bureau of Heraldry has aligned helmets and crests since the early 1980s, and the Canadian Heraldry Authority has apparently done so since its inception in 1988.

Re: assistance on metal-on-metal, color-on-color

Posted: 06 Jun 2016, 10:45
by Martin Goldstraw
In my office as director of The Armorial Register Limited I have been privileged to see copies of Letters Patent from the CoA, Lyon Court and Canada and certificates of registration from South Africa and all of them now depict the helm in whichever orientation suits the crest. Quite ordinary armigers of no particular rank may now have helms depicted facing to the front if it suits the crest. Heraldry is, thankfully, a living science and is not fossilised in the writings of 20th century authors.