Claus K Berntsen;66878 wrote:
Due to some problems registering my arms with the Swedish Register of Arms, I am contemplating changing them, simplifying them.
I am very fond of the bear and am considering using that as the only charge.
What would the learned society think of:
Gules, a bears head erased Or?
Does anybody know of a similar Coat of Arms?
If you wish to keep the same elements, you could place the Or bear between two argent cross flory on one of the colours and then add a chief of the other colour with the Or cross upon it.
emrys;66906 wrote:
http://xs136.xs.to/xs136/09092/swanson_metzig657.jpg
you could try something like this
from Heraldry for the designer by W. Metzig 1983 reprint
Quite a cant. Whose arms?
it was a design for a person called J. Swanson (Gules a swan carrying a little swan on his back a base wavy argent) the picture is one of the earlier designs with a "sun" above the swans the blazon was the final design.
emrys;66906 wrote:
you could try something like this
Nice blazon, but the emblazonment seems straight from the studios of Speer and Goebbels.
Joseph McMillan;66905 wrote:
Of course we’re free to, but doing so for "light and transient causes" rather diminishes the usefulness of arms as marks of identity. We’re also free to change our names whenever we wish, but that doesn’t make it a good idea.
I guess everyone has to decide for himself what a light and transient cause would be, but I would tend to view it not as a matter of changing one’s name, but changing the font in which his name is printed.
well Metzig was German graphic designer who immigrated to the U.S. he had a modern style of heraldic art which looked more abstract.
Claus K Berntsen;66883 wrote:
It is indeed the quartering that is problematic. It is possible such a change would suffice, but if I have to change it anyway, I thought why not make it really clear, even in small size, which it currently isn’t always…
The register is Svenskt Vapenregister, www.heraldik.se/svk, which is run by Svenska Vapenkollegiet (the Swedish College of Arms), which is a sub-group of the Swedish Heraldry Society in collaboration with the Swedish National Committee for Genealogy and Heraldry.
It is the National Committee that has objected to my arms.
I have made a search in the database of the Swedish Heraldry Society and only found a very few arms with bears, and even fewer with bear heads, none using it as an only charge.
What about:
"Gules, a cross flory Argent; overall on an escutcheon Azure a bear’s head erased Or."?
That keeps a lot of what you have now but arranges it more simply.
Not bad, and quite unusual, but possibly not seen as good heraldry in Scandinavia, as the escutcheon would normally be seen as arms of pretence, or as the original arms, before an "improvement".
I like these commandments mostly. Question: Would a shield that was semi of something violate it in spirit if not in application?
If not then why not make your shield crussily, or semi of whatever, with a bear as well? This can be done in one tincture/one metal very well as can be seen with the well-known sept-arms of Darcy of the Tribes: Azure, semi-of-crosses crosslet and three cinque-foils Argent (Blazon from MacLysaght).
I’m sorry to see both Michael’s and your arms change. I rather liked both. But, such is the way of things. 
emrys;66915 wrote:
well Metzig was German graphic designer who immigrated to the U.S. he had a modern style of heraldic art which looked more abstract.
Don’t get me wrong. I’ve got plenty of German blood, myself, and the art of Totalitarian regimes is actually a pet fascination of mine (what’s not to like about Leni Riefenstahl?). But Metzig’s style does fairly scream "Blood and Honor!"—arguably in keeping with the original spirit of heraldry, I guess, though mama and baby swan are not the most intrinsically fearsome charges to ever grace a shield.
Although . . . I guess you could also read Bauhaus into it—not that these things are necessarily mutually exclusive, despite the Bauhaus’ anathematization under the Nazis.
Just to be perfectly clear:
No decision to change my arms have been made as of yet, I am still waiting for the ruling of the Swedish College of Arms…
But it is rather entertaining to think about the changes… And who knows where we will end up?
Donnchadh;66928 wrote:
I’m sorry to see both Michael’s and your arms change. I rather liked both. But, such is the way of things.
I am mulling, not deciding, too.
While folks are suggesting alternative blazons, I may as well suggest one obvious derivative of Claus’s arms. What about: Azure a bear’s head erased Or and on a chief Gules a cross flory entire Argent?
I’ll throw an idea out there for consumption as well. What about a bear maintaining a cross flory as the sole charge of the shield?
David E. Cohen;66937 wrote:
I’ll throw an idea out there for consumption as well. What about a bear maintaining a cross flory as the sole charge of the shield?
As a minimalist, I like the economy of that.
