For some time I’ve been trying to find any coats of arms of early California dons, and may have finally found one. I was in a museum in Old Town San Diego this weekend when I spotted this information panel (see attached) about Juan Bandini. It’s in black and white, so I don’t know the tinctures. It references the San Diego Historical Society so I’ll have to do more research.

This link below has a bio of Juan Bandini:

http://www.sandiegohistory.org/online_resources/bandini.html

Just found an article on line about Bandini entitled "The Casa and The Don: Juan Bandini’s Quest for Homeland in Early San Diego," By Victor A. Walsh. It contains this reference:

Quote:

The household’s furnishings typified the family’s elite social status. They were massive and beautiful,” in the words of Arcadia Bandini Brennan, Bandini’s greatgranddaughter. They included many ornate pieces brought to this remote outpost by José Bandini from Spain and Peru or that belonged to Dolores Estudillo, Bandini’s first wife. Among the family’s most prized possessions were the heavy, hand-wrought silver washbowls, pitchers, goblets, and pots that decorated many of the rooms. One item of special note was a lotus-shaped bowl featuring the family’s crest of two serpents coiled around a cross.

And later in the same article:

Quote:

The Brennan collection at the Bancroft [at UC Berkeley] contains photographs and additional folders on the family, including copies of the Bandini crest and shield. The crest, entitled “Laus Dio Bandini,” features two snakes coiled around a cross, while the shield, entitled “Bandini Guistiniani – Prince of Rome,” features the double-headed eagle.