http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/Wappen_schondorf.jpg
I am going to be showing a bubble pen drawing in an exhibition in Shondorf next year. Above, the coat of arms, about which I am quite enthusiastic.
Yes, a very attractive design. Simple, bold, and effective.
I feel that there almost has to be some sort of local legend about a unicorn with a ring on its horn.
Have fun in Bavaria!
steven harris;89997 wrote:
I feel that there almost has to be some sort of local legend about a unicorn with a ring on its horn.
Have fun in Bavaria!
ha! i had a similar feeling. 
The history of the arms is outlined at: http://www.datenmatrix.de/projekte/hdbg/gemeinden/bayerns-gemeinden_detail.php?gkz=9181139.
My German is poor but this seems to state that the communes of Oberschondorf and Unterschondorf were merged in 1970 to form Schondorf am Ammersee and the municipality adopted the arms then, with the approval of the Ministry of the Interior. The crowned unicorn was apparently on the 1951 shield of Oberschondorf but had been a charge on the shield 13-15th century lords of Schondorf.
The tinctures are based on a design in a book of the ducal archivist, John Lieb, around 1610.
Apparently the lords of Schondorf held it from the counts of Andechs and Dießen. There is another emblazonment at http://www.angelseven.de/Unicorns/Wappen/Deutsche/Schondorf/schondorf.html.
Unicorns and unicorns’ heads are quite common in German heraldry and I wonder whether there are any connections - whether they could (or have been) be mapped for relationships in the way eagles and lions have been mapped by Michel Pastoureau? (Incidentally, that reminds me that Prof. Pastoureau has just produced a rather fine book in French: "Bestiaires du moyen âge", pub Seuil, Paris, 2011 which includes unicorns on pp 79-81, but no mention of them bearing rings).
However, I have not yet found the origin of the ring and stone. Was this on the medieval lords’ arms?
Derek Howard
Derek Howard;90014 wrote:
...However, I have not yet found the origin of the ring and stone. Was this on the medieval lords’ arms?
I wonder if it has any allusion to "tilting at rings"? A nice medieval sport that was also played by the "Georgia Hussars" in Savannah before 1861 changed their focus, and taken up again in the 1870s.
Tilting at rings:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/99/Tilting_at_the_Ring._(From_an_old_print.).jpg/533px-Tilting_at_the_Ring._(From_an_old_print.).jpg
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Apparently the Georgia Hussars also competed in ring tilting into the 1890s
Roll of Officers and Members of the Georgia Hussars and of the Cavalry Companies, of which the Hussars are a continuation with Historical Sketch Relating Facts Showing the Origin and Necessity of Rangers or Mounted Men in the Colony of Georgia From Date of its Founding wrote:
A. H. HOOKE. Died June 5th, 1876, from injuries received May 1st, 1876, while tilting at "The Hermitage," near Savannah, Georgia. (p. 167)
...
On stated and extra occasions it held tilting exercises at Head, Ring and Target with sword and pistol, when was exhibited much skill and some elegant horsemanship. (p. 454)
...
The Minute Books of the Hussars from May 23, 1873, unto date are extant, and while the record of transactions and incidents are not as full and complete as they ought to be, they can be supple mented from the files of the "Morning News." They reveal the fact, however, that the Hussars resumed the role of duty. Drills, parades anil tilting contests were renewed with all zest,... (p. 462)
