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What is this heraldic symbol?


VincentK

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Does anyone know if the symbol displayed on the Besser Coat of Arms is an urn or samovar?

My guess is that it is an urn though I do not know the function of the single little protusion but I found photos of urns that have a similar 'appendage' (perhaps an animal motif was represented and the protrusion is a tail).

Because the one depicted on the coat-of-arms does not appear to have handles I am inclined to think it is not a samovar which had handles because they often held hot liquids and handles would have been necessary to move them around.

Google the word urn and then the word samovar and you will see many photos of each.

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  • 1 year later...

My guess is that it is an urn though I do not know the function of the single little protusion but I found photos of urns that have a similar 'appendage' (perhaps an animal motif was represented and the protrusion is a tail).

Because the one depicted on the coat-of-arms does not appear to have handles I am inclined to think it is not a samovar which had handles because they often held hot liquids and handles would have been necessary to move them around.

Google the word urn and then the word samovar and you will see many photos of each.

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Hello, may I suggest you look at a picture of the Butler coats of arms- very similar to what you have there, Arms of Butler, Earl & Marquess of Ormonde: Gules, three covered cups or[1] Wikipedia has picture if you google the family name.

lurch

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Does anyone know if the symbol displayed on the Besser Coat of Arms is an urn or samovar?

Bear in mind that the definition of a Coat of Arms is its written description - its blazon. What you see on any image is the interpretation of that blazon by a particular heraldic artist. As far as I can see, the Besser blazon is quoted as:

Sable, a covered cup [urn or samovar?] Argent.

So you are told it is a black shield with one silver coloured cup with lid on it. (My initial impression is that could have been a chalice rather than an urn)

I don't know where the various image sellers got that definition from. You would have to go back to the archives of the appropriate heralds to get any further.

I do have my own personal Coat of Arms designed and recorded by the College of Arms in London. There are a couple of feature on the shield and crest which are actual definable objects. To avoid error in interpretation these are labelled 'proper' in the blazon. My forum image is the crest from the coat of arms. It is a particular bird (not a cormorant) holding a sprig of a particular flower in its beak for which the blazon reads: "an Anhinga recursant wings displayed and inverted holding in the beak a Sprig of Royal Poinciana slipped leaved and flowered proper"

Alan

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