Thomas Jefferson

 
Joseph McMillan
 
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Joseph McMillan
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09 December 2007 13:56
 

I’ve replaced the closeup photo of the arms on the silver urn with one that Guy Power obtained from Monticello, and changed the wording of the article to reflect the fact that this closeup shows hatching indicating different tinctures than those in my drawing of the arms.  More editing to come; I will try to follow up with the National Archives and American Philosophical Society to see if anyone has a clear high-res photo of an impression of TJ’s armorial seal to determine what tinctures if any are indicated on it.

 
Guy Power
 
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Guy Power
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09 December 2007 15:06
 

Joe,

The Thomas Jefferson Wiki image is emblazoned the same as the crosshatching on the urn.

 

http://www.thomasjeffersonwiki.org/mediawiki/images/thumb/3/3c/CoatofArms.jpg/180px-CoatofArms.jpg

 

http://www.thomasjeffersonwiki.org/mediawiki/index.php/Coat_of_Arms

 

(Well .... the fret appears buff or Or rather than Argent)

 
Joseph McMillan
 
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Joseph McMillan
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11 December 2007 06:38
 

And yet on the urn there are clearly no dots for Or on the fret of the arms. (For those unable to detect this from the photo on our webpage, I base this statement on a much, much larger image provided by Monticello via Guy P.)

Last night I finished a redrawing of the arms to show the chief Gules with leopards’ faces Argent and a lion instead of a talbot as the crest. It’s now the main image on http://americanheraldry.org/pages/index.php?n=President.Jefferson. I moved the basic Jefferson of Pettistree arms with white chief and red leopard faces (minus TJ’s motto) lower in the article.

 
arriano
 
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arriano
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11 December 2007 12:11
 

Joe

In the seventh paragraph under "2. Seal of 1786" you list the blazon of the arms as:

 

Argent a fret and on a chief Argent three leopards’ faces Gules

 

I think the first word is supposed to be Azure.

 
Joseph McMillan
 
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Joseph McMillan
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11 December 2007 13:57
 

Thanks, Arian.  Good catch.

 
Joseph McMillan
 
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Joseph McMillan
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28 July 2008 13:00
 

Just found this looking for something else on AbeBooks:  advertisement for the sale of a dinner invitation from President Jefferson to a member of Congress, issued some time between 1801 and 1806 (asking price a mere $1638.19 plus shipping and handling):


Quote:

A partially printed invitation to dinner sent by the third President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, to the Congressman for Connecticut, John Cotton Smith. There is no date on this invitation but Jefferson became President in 1801 and Cotton Smith left Congressman in 1806. Comparison with Jefferson’s handwriting suggests this invitation was probably accomplished in a secretarial hand. It reads: ‘Th: Jefferson requests the favour of [The Honrble Mr Smith] to dine with him [on Thursday next] at half past three, or at whatever later hour the house may rise. [Monday] The favour of an answer is asked.’ The invitation is one half of a sheet of paper (measuring 8 inches by 10 inches) which was originally folded into a letter and sealed. The other half of the invitation reads: ‘The Hon-ble/ Mr Smith/ of Connecticut’. The letter was originally sealed with wax and the imprint of a seal is visible. It shows a coat of arms with a shield surmounted by crest showing an animal. When the letter was opened by Cotton Smith he pulled away a piece of paper on the opposite side of the paper which has stuck to the wax seal.


This is a piece of concrete evidence that, contrary to my previous supposition, Thomas Jefferson did not stop using his arms when he purchased a new seal with his monogram in 1790, or even when became President eleven years later.

 

I plan to try and contact the seller to see if they can give further details of the seal.

 

Big news in any case.  I will be updating the Jefferson article accordingly.

 
Guy Power
 
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Guy Power
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28 July 2008 19:33
 

Joseph McMillan;61256 wrote:

...I plan to try and contact the seller to see if they can give further details of the seal.

Big news in any case.  I will be updating the Jefferson article accordingly.


That’s a great find, Joe!  Perhaps you can obtain some jpg images of the seal and permission to post them.

 

—Guy