Arms of the American Heraldry Society by ASJ

 
Joseph McMillan
 
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Joseph McMillan
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07 November 2011 17:13
 

sterios;89720 wrote:

Does anybody noticed that the eagle is holding 14 arrows?


I didn’t, but no that you mention it…

 

I just dropped Chuck Mugno (director of TIOH) a note.

 
Kelisli
 
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Kelisli
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07 November 2011 20:48
 

Andy, Superb work as usual.  I love the tone you chose for the red and how it beautifully balances the brown.  Your ability to render the bald eagle in a stylized heraldic style has been very nicely achieved as well.

Joe, is the positional color or "personal flag" you are referring to an office flag or is it considered a personal flag?

 
Joseph McMillan
 
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Joseph McMillan
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07 November 2011 21:20
 

Kelisli;89725 wrote:

Joe, is the positional color or "personal flag" you are referring to an office flag or is it considered a personal flag?


I find the army terminology to be irritatingly complicated.  They distinguish between "positional colors," which are "authorized to indicate the official status or rank of certain civilian and military officials of the Federal Government," and "individual flags," which identify the grade or rank of general officers and members of the Senior Executive Service, but not the particular position they hold.  To make things worse, the "positional colors" are not "of the President," "of the Secretary of the Army," etc., but "of the Office of the President," of the Office of the Secretary of the Army."

 

The need for the distinction arises from the practice of giving everyone and his brother of any significance a distinctive flag to go with the position he holds, from the President down to the Director of the Army Staff and the principal staff assistants to the Secretary of the Army.  Most of these people are concurrently either general officers or members of the SES, meaning they have both a positional color and an individual rank flag.

 

The problem is that the term "Office" can mean either the position occupied by the official or the staff organization supporting him or her, but usually means the latter in bureaucratic usage.  Yet the blue flag with the Presidential version of the U.S. arms is not the flag of the Executive Office of the President, it is the flag of the President himself, and the red flag with the national arms and four white stars (in the picture I posted) does not symbolize the corporate Office of the Secretary of the Army but the Secretary himself.

 

The navy custom of simply calling all of these "personal flags" is just so much more straightforward.

 
eploy
 
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eploy
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08 November 2011 00:11
 

Joseph McMillan;89693 wrote:

I think we (the AHS) would have been better off if we’d reversed the colors of the field and the chief—or alternatively reversed the locations of the eagle and the escutcheons—as the bald eagle proper would have worked better on blue than on red, but that’s ancient history.


Who came up with the original design and what was the vetting process?  Is this explanation available in the forum?

 

Regardless, Andrew certainly did a wonderful job making the eagle stand out while still staying true to the blazon.

 
WBHenry
 
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WBHenry
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08 November 2011 00:59
 

eploy;89727 wrote:

Who came up with the original design and what was the vetting process?  Is this explanation available in the forum?


An explanation of our arms can be found on the Home Page.  Go to the left-hand column under "Society" and click on "Society Arms."  As for the original design process / discussion, I did a quick search in the forum archives, but such a thread eludes me.  If I recall correctly, there was an even older archives section which did not make the transition to the current forum.  I was not yet a member when the discussion was held.  Perhaps another member with more "seniority" will be able to answer your question.

 
Chuck Glass
 
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Chuck Glass
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08 November 2011 07:07
 

I think it’s beautiful.  And I would like to suggest that this might be the perfect time to freshen up our website a bit by replacing the currently used arms on our home page banner with this one.

 
Kenneth Mansfield
 
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Kenneth Mansfield
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08 November 2011 12:30
 

Chuck Glass;89735 wrote:

I think it’s beautiful.  And I would like to suggest that this might be the perfect time to freshen up our website a bit by replacing the currently used arms on our home page banner with this one.


That would require a clean scan without shadows.

 
 
Michael F. McCartney
 
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Michael F. McCartney
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08 November 2011 20:56
 

I would like to see both the current Alex Kurov emblazonment, and the new one from Andy, both displayed on the Home Page/Society Arms page.

As with the display of multiple renditions on many of our Members Arms pages, simultaneously observing the similarities and differences serve both to delight the eye and educate the viewer.

 
Andrew Stewart Jamieson
 
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Andrew Stewart Jamieson
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10 November 2011 18:32
 

Michael F. McCartney;89761 wrote:

I would like to see both the current Alex Kurov emblazonment, and the new one from Andy, both displayed on the Home Page/Society Arms page.

As with the display of multiple renditions on many of our Members Arms pages, simultaneously observing the similarities and differences serve both to delight the eye and educate the viewer.


This might be a good idea. It will show just how different a blazon can be treated by artists. These arms are now the Society’s and so they can use them how they see fit but please don’t hang them in your rest room above the Loo! ( You think I am joking, I went to a clients house and had one of my works in his downstairs Loo, as he said, ‘it is the only room in the house that everyone goes in’ ! He had a point. :cool:

 
Michael F. McCartney
 
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Michael F. McCartney
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10 November 2011 20:07
 

Hmmm…so maybe instead of the refrigerator test ...

 
Joseph McMillan
 
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Joseph McMillan
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10 November 2011 20:30
 

Shouldn’t it be possible to have the emblazonment displayed change from one to another each time the page is refreshed, or upon clicking on the image?  I’ve seen that on other websites.

 
Kenneth Mansfield
 
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Kenneth Mansfield
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10 November 2011 21:31
 

Joseph McMillan;89848 wrote:

Shouldn’t it be possible to have the emblazonment displayed change from one to another each time the page is refreshed, or upon clicking on the image?  I’ve seen that on other websites.


Possible, yes. It requires some javascript. Oh, and a clean copy of the image. wink

 
 
Andrew Stewart Jamieson
 
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Andrew Stewart Jamieson
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11 November 2011 04:31
 

Kenneth Mansfield;89851 wrote:

Possible, yes. It requires some javascript. Oh, and a clean copy of the image. wink


I think it’s going to be decided at your next meeting where I should send the arms.  Then, you can scan them if you’d like to use them but please don’t feel obligated.  I really enjoyed painting them.

 
David Pope
 
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David Pope
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11 November 2011 07:31
 

Andrew,

What a wonderful achievement of the Society’s arms!  Very nice.  I only regret that the Society doesn’t use a helm/crest, etc. to see your interpretation of them, as well!

 
david
 
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david
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11 November 2011 08:51
 

A marvelous rendition of the arms of the society.  I agree with everyone who thinks it is a very good thing to see different emblazonments by such skilled artists.