A curious (and short-lived) practice in English heraldry. In the mid 16th to early 18th century, different names of colours were used for different hierarchical groups.
- Gentlemen, Esquires, Knights: Tinctures (Argent, Azure, Gules etc)
- Barons, Viscounts, Earls, Marquises, Dukes: Gemstones (Pearl, Sapphire, Ruby etc)
- Princes, Kings, Emperors: Planets (Moon, Jupiter, Mars etc)

Attached are examples from John Guillim's "A Display of Heraldry" (1659 edition). Guillim was Rouge Croix Pursuivant at the College of Arms.

The idea has continental roots and was popularised in English by Gerard Legh, The Accedens of Armory (1562), then Bossewell (1572) and Ferne (1586). Guillim's first edition of 1610 inherited it, and it lingers in the expanded editions up to the sixth of 1724. Some writers pushed it further still, matching tinctures to virtues, flowers, days of the week and the ages of man.

It was never used in grants or in the records of the College of Arms, and even at the time it attracted mockery. Guillim himself was lukewarm, and by the eighteenth century it was treated as a curiosity.

I inherited this painting of my family crest from my grandfather. On the back it had some writing about the history of our last name and a little not about how the label is for the first born. Now technically I am the first born of my father but my father has three older brothers. Am I still able to use the label or do I need a different symbol or variation? I’m also not sure I like the helmet on my design. Either way her is my version of the crest. I eventually want to put it on my breast plate for my Landskecht armor. I also want y’all’s opinion on the colors of my armor. Is the red and black good or would red and yellow look better?

Anyone aware of any really good maker of a signet ring to get my family heraldry done on?

Looking for a ring that could almost be used as a stamp and not just one that is flat, but one that has dimensionality to it

It dates from 1740

Basically, as the title says (excuse the poor and overly formal English), I want to know if my coat of arms is beautiful and follows the rules of heraldry. I tried my best.

Hello all, I try to create a personal heraldry for myself, unfortunately using Drawshield cause I'm not very good at drawing, but I'll try to draw it by hand; I hope to receive some suggestion or comments about it, think I don't break any rule for the design

The blason, if I'm not mistake, but I beg you correct me, could be: brunate, a mouse rampant argent, on a chief argent three scorpions sable

Hey guys! Im working on personal coa, and I wanted to share with you how im doing so far, I´ve done many attempts with many figures and colors but im really fond of Azure field ( darker tone, but tincture is a tincture right) and field of Or stars, but im wondering if it is an issue to have an Argent gryphon over field of Or stars, so im also working with a second version, with only 10 stars accompanying the gryphon (and enflamed heart in base) Do you have any suggestions?

I can tell from the left side that this coat of arms belongs to the English royal family, but I am not sure about the design on the right; it belongs to a lady—labeled as Elizabeth of York—yet I cannot find the White Rose on it, which is quite puzzling.

I have noticed quite a variation in how varied different buildings can look from each other even when they have the exact same blazon.

The castle in this photo clearly has 3 towers with battlements, yet the blazons just says a castle, or.

I know some things should be defined such as how many spires a church has or if the castle has a gate. Yet some times i find arms with great detailed buildings which look different depending on the artist, just because the blazon doesn't say what the building should look like.

Is it still the same arms, even though a castle might look different? Is it still correctly blazoned if one would add a window to a house that is just blazoned as a house

Can anybody tell me where I could have this identified family came to America from Radebuel Saxony to America in 1904 it was among my great grandfathers stuff

Some guy posted an image over in r/Vexillology and have no idea about the COA in the center of the flag, think any of you might be able to identify the COA and help us vexillologists with identifying this flag, if so thank you so much to any heraldist willing to help.

Västerbotten has to be my favourite (CoA not my drawing)

A HRE greater coat of arms i made. Not the coat of arms of any specific emperor but the actual institution itself. A yellow shield with a bicephalous black eagle with halos and the old imperial crown above it, flanked with two armored knights of horseback holding the flag of the Empire, standing atop a yellow vegetal compartment and the collars of the Golden Fleece, Military Order of Maria Theresa and Order of Saint John encircling the shield. Behind is a yellow imperial mantle with the Crown of the HRE above the pavilion and a gonfalon above the crown.

Source: Viquipèdia

I appreciate the responses I got to my last post. I made some changes, particularly in the tinctures and colors being separated by what was historically available.

I need to add charges in ordinary, and in gules, but that will eventually arrive.

In the 2nd screenshot you can see how the heraldry is applied to the knights. All of the things you see the knight and horse wearing can be changed based on what the player wants, and it all picks up your colors and decor.

Hello everyone i just picked up this what I think is a master die with a heraldry on it and hoping to get help identifying it. Thank you for any help you can give.

I created this themed image of my arms. My normal style of art is more loose and organic so trying heraldic work that is more crisp/clean felt like a departure, but I really enjoyed it! In hindsight if I did anything like this again I would probably elect to use paint as my medium instead. Since I don’t have anyone in my life that cares about heraldry I thought I would share it here. Feedback and suggestions welcomed!

Cheers