Thanks for the input from everyone. I’ve decided on my arms having just the family seal (Azure, a letter R pierced by an arrow fesswise point to sinister Or). Opinions?
Obviously I still have to finish the supporters, helm, crest etc.
Carl wrote, "I am fully aware that letters are non-conventional and usually frowned upon. The reason for it’s use is it is a family symbol that has been in use for over 150 years in Sweden for stamping products and as a seal on official correspondence."
This would seen (IMO anyway) to be a reasonable justification in the context of Teutonic heraldic tradition—it’s essentially a housemark with a long history. While it’s not something we would encourage in new assumptions generally (i.e. for someone starting from scratch with a blank slate), it’s not contrary to any overriding American legal or social values. So, speaking for myself anyway, go for it!
Carl Alexander Roth;94956 wrote:
Obviously I still have to finish the supporters, helm, crest etc.
Helm, crest? Of course.
Supporters? Umm, no.
Carl Alexander Roth;94956 wrote:
Thanks for the input from everyone. I’ve decided on my arms having just the family seal (Azure, a letter R pierced by an arrow fesswise point to sinister Or). Opinions?
Obviously I still have to finish the supporters, helm, crest etc.
A humble suggestion, given your recent comments concerning quartering, letters pierced by arrows, supporters, etc…
Push the pause button on your design. Take three months and read from the Society’s Heraldic Primer, the Basic Heraldry Bookshelf, and any other heraldry sources that you can get your hands on. Spend hours looking through the images available on the Canadian Heraldic Authority’s website and here in the Members’ Arms area. After you’ve done all that, THEN start working on a design. Your finished design will be much better and you won’t regret/rethink/redesign your arms within a year.
Remember, "Wisely and slow. They stumble that run fast."
Best of luck,
David
Joseph McMillan;94958 wrote:
Helm, crest? Of course.
Supporters? Umm, no.
Explain?
Read.
Supporters are traditionally, almost everywhere, external symbols implying, or flat out claiming, nobiliary status. Their use by someone who is not in a country that uses such additaments, by grant or assumption, is merely in bad taste, while their use in a country where such external ornaments are controlled may even rise to the level of violating law and subjecting one to legal punishments. (Scotland is an example.) American usage has eschewed the use of supporters for individuals since Revolutionary times, with the premise being that no American is nobler than any other.
Understood, but keep in mind most (if not all) of my inspiration and tradition is coming from Swedish heraldry. From what I’ve seen at Ridarhuset (the House of Lords in Stockholm) and read from their publications supporters are still in use and are generally not restricted to nobility only. From what I’ve understood Swedish tradition tends to reserve only the crowns (and variations thereof) for nobility. Of course I could be COMPLETELY wrong and look forward to input : )
From Coats of Arms of the Nobility in Sweden by Otto Von Schwerin, Secretary general at the House of Nobility 1996-2002. In the forward by Inga von Corswant-Naumburg Fil dr/PhD
"Before his coronation in 1561, Erik XIV created a clear distinction between the country’s nobility, a division that largely followed the German heraldic tradition. This gave a division of the nobility into three classes: counts, barons and untitled nobles. The change also involved a heraldic schedule for the various levels. The families of counts have six fields in their escutcheon and moreover and inescutcheon; baronial families have four fields, most often with an inescutcheon; the other nobles have an undivided escutcheon."
"Differences between the different classes are also reflected in the number of helmets above the escutcheon. The crowns symbolize the number of royal enfeoffments that a family could have. As a rule, the family of a count had three crowned helmets, two denoted barons and noble families had one. The nobility’s open crowns also differ from the three classes."
No mention of supporters in either of those sections but later:
"An item that does not occur as an accessory in early Swedish heraldry is the shield supporters. The high nobility had the right to use supporters, and during the 18th century more noble families acquired this right."
I noticed it did not mention what the current rules / norms are.
As far as I know, the Swedish system/tradition implies (not uncommonly for the Continental Europe) that supporters constitute a heraldic honour which may be achieved in a way of a grant or kept since the times immemorial. Supporters granted by foreign authorities seem to be tolerated as well. Some noble and titled families of Sweden do not have them and thus should not claim them irrespectively of the rank.
There are fine Swedish heraldic manuals which show that supporters are not to be merely assumed. It seems that no just-assumed supporters may be found in the Skandinavisk Vapenrulla or the Svenskt Vapenregister (both private but respectable).
As to the Vapenregister, it may be checked online: http://www.heraldik.se/svk/registret_1-100.html and http://www.heraldik.se/svk/registret_101-200.html
As to the Vapenrulla, http://heraldik.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=149&Itemid=143
Feel the true Swedish commoners’ heraldry without supporters 
!
The influence of the brotherly/neighbouring German system which sees supporters in the same way is relevant, too.
I highly recommend fridge testing for at least a month (if not three as David previously suggested).
If you want arms in the Swedish tradition, and possibly to register them in Sweden, I would recommend not basing a coat of arms on the housemark. Housemarks are usually made up of lines that can be described heraldically, not letters.
I would instead use canting arms, Roth is eminently suited to this! Why not something like "Azure, an eradicated treetrunk Or"?
Claus K Berntsen;94972 wrote:
If you want arms in the Swedish tradition, and possibly to register them in Sweden, I would recommend not basing a coat of arms on the housemark. Housemarks are usually made up of lines that can be described heraldically, not letters.
I would instead use canting arms, Roth is eminently suited to this! Why not something like "Azure, an eradicated treetrunk Or"?
..."bisected fesswise by an arrow to sinister Or"?
Claus K Berntsen;94972 wrote:
If you want arms in the Swedish tradition, and possibly to register them in Sweden, I would recommend not basing a coat of arms on the housemark. Housemarks are usually made up of lines that can be described heraldically, not letters.
I would instead use canting arms, Roth is eminently suited to this! Why not something like "Azure, an eradicated treetrunk Or"?
Perhaps Gules for the field Claus as a (German) cant on the name Roth = Rot.
Joseph McMillan;94945 wrote:
Alabama’s arms are not good heraldry
yikes!
Claus K Berntsen;94972 wrote:
I would instead use canting arms, Roth is eminently suited to this! Why not something like "Azure, an eradicated treetrunk Or"?
can you explain this cant? I don’t see it :confused:
Richard G.;94974 wrote:
Perhaps Gules for the field Claus as a (German) cant on the name Roth = Rot.
I was going to suggest the same thing! Also, in Irish and Scottish Gaelic roth means ‘wheel’ (or disk, sphere, rim, halo, etc.).
I most highly recommend stopping for a moment to get a basic level of heraldic understating, before you try designing arms for yourself; arms that will be used by your family and your descendants for generations to come. This isn’t something to be rushed into. I took 3½ years to design mine (and had a 4-month ‘fridge test) - and I couldn’t be happier with the result!
The eradicated treetrunk is canting as it is showing it’s roots…
Roth = rot (root in Swedish)
A red field would make it a double cant in Swedish and German.
See as an example the arms of Tom C. Bergroth:
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http://www.heraldik.org/images/stories/vapen/vapenrulla/bergroth_tom.stor.png
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