The International Association of Amateur Heralds

The Canadian Heraldry Authority has just added 99 more arms and badges to its online register. They are 2017-18 grants.

I thought the arms of Dr Sophie Robichaud Lothian (of Virginia USA) were rather unusual :


The blazon is "Per saltire 1st and 4th Argent semé of pallets Azure, 2nd and 3rd Argent semé of barrulets wavy Azure, over all a cinquefoil Or pierced Argent."

Anyone here come across "semé of pallets" or "semé of barrulets" before?

Anyone here come across "semé of pallets" or "semé of barrulets" before?

No. And I doubt if anyone else has either. "Semé" means strewn - as one might scatter rose petals on a bed-cover. No exact number would be specified. The so-called "semé of pallets" is nothing more or less than five pallets, and the "semé of barrulets wavy" is five bars (or barrulets) wavy. Thus the blazon should be: Per saltire 1st and 4th Argent five Pallets azure 2nd and 3rd Argent five Bars (or Barrulets) wavy Azure overall a Cinquefoil Or pierced Argent.

The design is fine, it's just the blazon that is eccentric.

I find the CHA increasingly dotty. Maybe it's the lingering aroma of something legal.

Another unusual feature of the blazon is that the white circle in the centre of the cinquefoil is blazoned as "pierced Argent", but the explanation of the design on the webpage says that it is a pearl (of wisdom). The shading on the drawing also suggests that it is a pearl. So why "pierced" rather than "charged with a pearl"?

yes strange that

I don't have a problem with the apparent difference between the blazon and symbolism - the blazon is the legal descrption. The symbolisn fmerely ewveals why the petitioner chose the design - no different than explaining that bendy wavy Argent and Azure representsm to the grantee, thus & such a river or lake or stream - the barry wavy is still just that, The artist may (in this case has) exercised artistic license with the shading just as he might have done with a barry pattern to look a bit wetter than a flat blue paint - but no other artist is obliged to follow suite in either case *unless the paying customer insists on it! And either version would (or IMO should)still be considered heraldically interchangeable.