Nicolas that is a very nice design you mentioned. Even the blades of the windmill would fit well on the saltire (NY comes to mind). Good idea Nicolas. 
I had originally submitted this design for consideration:
http://www.andrewcusack.com/akbcarms1.jpg
I still never managed to settle on it, however. I think it’s a very fine design, but it never quite sat well with me.
One thought in my mind was that it differs too greatly from the Cusack "sept" arms (is this the correct term?) of per pale or and azure, a fess countercharged, seen in the illustration below from the book Archives généalogiques et historiques de la noblesse de France:
http://www.andrewcusack.com/akbcarms3.jpg
So I’ve come up with this new proposal (see below) which achieves two of my aims:
1) Commemorating St. Nicholas, in this case with three bezants.
2) Commorating the Virgin Mary, in this case with the three fleurs-de-lis.
http://www.andrewcusack.com/akbcarms2.jpg
I’m not quite sure how to blazon this, but I invite any comments, thoughts, or suggestions that forum-goers might like to contribute.
I must say I like that a lot. (Even though I am bummed you lost the Cheque with it, still it’s very nice IMO)
MY attempt at a blazon would be
Per Pale Or and Azure, between a fleur-de-lis Azure and Bezant in chief and in base, a bezant and fleur-de-lis on a fess Counterchanged.
A Very nice simple, but elegant design
akbcusack;51786 wrote:
So I’ve come up with this new proposal (see below) which achieves two of my aims:
1) Commemorating St. Nicholas, in this case with three bezants.
2) Commorating the Virgin Mary, in this case with the three fleurs-de-lis.
http://www.andrewcusack.com/akbcarms2.jpg
I’m not quite sure how to blazon this, but I invite any comments, thoughts, or suggestions that forum-goers might like to contribute.
You are a most promising heraldic designer Andrew! If I had seen these arms in a book I would have guessed them to have been designed by a Finn or a Swede and certainly not by a college aged American. Very crisp arms indeed!
Hi, Andrew. I assume you’re the gentleman who runs http://www.andrewcusack.com/. I love the site! Can I ask the source of the image of Charles of Austria you have there? I’ve been trying to find one suitable for framing.
You do seem to be a precocious herald!
Andrew,
Your new proposal is very good and may satisfy you fully. It is an excellent design.
If you are looking for an alternative Marian reference - think of the various forms of Marian devotion - everything from the rosary to the various names by which she is known. The lily is but one perhaps overly frequently used charge. There is no harm in looking at new allusive references - for example if I were to represent Our Lady Queen of Poland I might suggest per fess argent and azure, in chief a ducal coronet and in base an eagle displayed counterghanged, if I were to describe her has Our Lady of Czestochowa (Deiparae Claromontanis) per chevron sable and argent and in chief a mullet of eight points counterchanged, winged rose or lily argent for the Assumption, etc.
Other symbols to consider a mirror, a pearl, a sun argent, a foot descending from a cloud toward a serpent, a rosary, a heart pierced by a sword, tears for the Mater dolorosa, or for the Auspice Maria - Argent couple-close and couple-close inverted and a bordure Azure.
Very nice design.
Your last design (per pale a fess counterchanged with the f-d-l’s & bezants) is clean, simple & certainly distinctive. There is IMO a bit of an oddness to the symmetry but whether that’s good or bad is a matter of personal taste.
Back to the original proposal—you can incorporate the Cusack "sept" theme by merely parting the field per pale and keep the fess checky counterchanged. The windmill blades in base will then also be counterchanged, but I suspect that charge is simple & distinctive enough to still be clearly recognizable. If not, put two windmill thingees in chief & one counterchanged bezant in base.
Andrew, this is a great design. It speaks not only to the two saints you mentioned and not only to an association with Cusack (sept was/is a term used, though there is no equivelant word in Irish except for clannad, but "sept" is understood and right as Dr. MacLysaght listed them among the handful of Norman-Irish families with that designation).
But, the fleur-de-lis, while perhaps overused as George ssays, can also call tot he Norman heritage of the name. In Irish heraldry there is a tendency to ahve the fleur-de-lis in the arms of Norman families, but also in those Irish famimlies who battled them. So, it is a greay fit IMO in terms of Irish armory.
While I agree with David that it can look how he sees it I can also tell you that it is very clearly an Irish design as well, as that is the first thing I think of when I see your name and then the arms is Irish. Very well done and I’m happy you went with one based more closely to your name differenced properly.
