On the Swedish Heraldry Society Heraldica Forum we have begun at designing Arms for the City of Thorsby, Alabama.

We have started from teh City emblem which includes a Peach over the crossed US and Swedish Flags. The Flags we have left out and included Mjolnir (the Hammer of Thor) as a pun on the name. Below a first sketch:

http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/1010/persika2.jpg

Another suggestion:

http://www.heraldik.se/heraldica/user_files/Joakim Berggren/200982294147_thorsby.gif

Well then I thougth that, we perhaps could need som "native" endorsement also so are ther some AHS members with experince as to handling local councils?

Both aesthetically and as a Christian [thick-headed maybe…], I prefer the second version. Mjolnir is a lovely charge and I suggested it recently myself to a wannabe-armiger… but in a broad modern context it may be spontaneously ‘working’ as a neo-heathen sign :banghead:.

If shewn symbolically/geometrically, Mjolnir brings no such allusions.

Marcus,

A very nice idea!

I don’t know Thorsby, but my family is from the nearby county of Talladega, and one thing you might want to watch out for is a possible fundamentalist backlash from the use of a "pagan" symbol like Mjolnir. I would suggest that a more conventional sledge-hammer might be more easily accepted, even if explained as representing the hammer of Thor. This has the added advantage of serving as a pun on the name of the state bird, the yellowhammer (a type of woodpecker, also known as the flicker, quite different from the European yellowhammer).

http://www.outdooralabama.com/watchable-wildlife/images/yellowhammer.jpg

Other than that, I would think the town council (it is a town, by the way, not a city) would probably be delighted by a gift like this from the Swedish Heraldry Society, and wouldn’t need much persuading to accept it.

I would be interested in hearing how a city in Alabama selected the Swedish Heraldry Society to design its arms. How did they find you? Or did you find them? Etc.

Joseph McMillan;71096 wrote:

I don’t know Thorsby, but my family is from the nearby county of Talladega, and one thing you might want to watch out for is a possible fundamentalist backlash from the use of a "pagan" symbol like Mjolnir.  I would suggest that a more conventional sledge-hammer might be more easily accepted, even explained as representing the hammer of Thor.  This has the added advantage of serving as a pun on the name of the state bird, the yellowhammer (a type of woodpecker, also known as the flicker, quite different from the European yellowhammer).

That is an excellent idea.

Another option would be the same cant as in the arms of Albrecht Duerer - a gateway or door.

Here’s an extremely quickie thumbnail. . .

http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/8446/thorsby1.png

I like the hammer idea personally - but a simple sledgehammer would be more "heraldic" than the highly ornate version.

I agree that a simple sledgehammer is far easier to recognize than the more realistic representation.

Marcus K;71094 wrote:

http://www.heraldik.se/heraldica/user_files/Joakim Berggren/200982294147_thorsby.gif

 

The above shield in conjunction with the yellowhammer as a crest would make excellent arms and the corressponding heraldic flag would go well with that of the State of Alabama. Pagan symbols will not be well received in Alabama.

Thanks all for the response, I will bring forward your suggestions.

Well the background is that a member of the Swedish Heraldry Society resident in Värmland the Province where the Swedish Torsby is located, had seen that the Alabama Thorsby had sougth to become a Adopted City of the Swedish Torsby. Then the idea of designing Arms for the US City.

The "T" for Thorsbie, I presume, can also be a stylized hammer shape.  I think it is rather much to have that many peaches upon the arms, though, and perhaps one at centre or honour point could do nicely to simplify it all.

Or perhaps one pair of Peaches on either side of the T-shape.

I thought the peach would show up nicer on the white, and honour point would work out nicely being centered at the crux of the "T."

So I took a look at the town’s website, and Thorsby is Swedish for ‘town of Thorson," named after Theodore Thorson.

Dear Alexander,

I think the second of Marcus’s designs with the five peaches on the tau cross is a great, well balanced design.

My feelings are that a single peach would be ‘lost’ on the tau cross and might need one or more accompanying charges to complete the design - which would just add further complication.

Without a picture of your suggestion so that I can compare the two designs, I am strongly in favour of Marcus’s second design.

Regards,

Iain Boyd

It would be like this at honour point.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c17/xanderliptak/Thorsby.gif

If one peach is good - five MUST be better! :D

Seriously, I like the 5 peaches idea as well.

Give the town council the choice—i.e. "Here are two (three?) designs—which would you prefer & we’ll draw it up pretty"

I personally prefer the version with multiple peaches, but then its not my town!