Jewellery Detective: Heraldry & family crests in jewellery

As an avid family historian knowing where you come from is such a powerful feeling. I spent my early teen years researching our families extensive WWI & WWII histories with my grandmother. This led to the incredible hand drawn family trees and many tales told before she passed away. It led to unknown stories and war records we had never seen not to mention awards and special commendations my great grandfathers received for bravery in both wars. We have pieces of their handmade trench art, photos from their training in Egypt and wonderful letters written home explaining the conditions and war life. This connection to the past and family is so special.

With my deep love of jewellery, history and family it's no wonder I was so enamoured with the incredible information held in the symbols of family crests and coats of arms.

So let's start with the basics as so many terms are used interchangeably. A coat of arms is the name for the decoration that nobility used to represent their family group, and they date all the way back to the 1100s. When they competed in tournaments or battles they wore these designs on their shields and outfits to differentiate between families. Lets look at a few distinctions below 

Armourial/ Coat of Arms: the complete heraldic design sometimes called the coat of arms. It often featured a shield, helmet, crest and motto and this was used to identify a family and was a symbol of status and lineage 

Family crest: Single symbol (animal or object) usually taken from the top of the full Armourial achievement. It is often used on seals or badges as a form of shorthand identification. We often see this simplified version in intaglio form due to the limited room available on the gem to engrave.

Fortunately the English, Irish and Welsh did a very good job of recording these symbols and as such we have some great references boos to help guide our investigation. The one I use is Fairbarnes book of crest (Vol 1 & 2).

These books enable you to use either the motto or family crest to determine the last name or vise versa using the last name to learn the family crest or motto. It's important to note not all family's had crests due to the status and cost. Some family's simply used their carved initials for seals and identification. Learning about the shorthand language used for armourial crest isn't easy! But these books have a guide to assist you. For example I learnt they call a lions or beasts paw a gamb! There is a whole dictionary of terms in the above mentioned book so I didn't have to go far to figure them out! 

Through my journey I have collected some truly special pieces of history, some for myself and family and others to share. Lets have a look at them together and how I determined their origins and family names.

Citrine Ring Edington Family : Personal Collection

This ring was a more recent aquistion to celebrate my birthday with my birthstone being citrine. The latin reads 'Labor Omnia Vincit' which translates to 'Labour conquers all thing' and this motto really resonated with me. After consulting my reference books for heraldic history this motto was assigned to a few families.

Once I looked up the Edington family name in the other section it confirmed we were correct noting their family crest was that of the erased stag and matching motto were noted referencing Plate 121 and image 2. I consulted the dictionary of terms and confirm erased meant usually just the head showing. In this case it is picture above initials AB.

Citrine Intaglio Latham Family: Personal Collection

This one was straight forward as well showing the motto really helps identify it quickly 'Maintien Le Droit' which translates to Support the right was shown to belong to a few families. 

We then confirmed the Latham families crest consisted of a dexter arm in armour brandishing a scimitar (Bottom Left)

I also had the great fortune to acquire a very special Georgian lot of intaglios at Auction. In amongst it was the family crest of my father's side 'Deane' Irish County Cork.

We learnt they had the lion gamb or paw for their crest and this simple small intaglio means the world to me and will be set in a signet. I am still researching the others in my busy schedule but enjoy it immensely.

I am lucky to have a Georgian carnelian intaglio ring available along with smokey quartz armourial crest ring in a vintage English setting. Both listed Click picture below

Each piece I find, even if I don't purchase it I enjoy researching it and learning something, honestly the sheer amount of crests is mind boggling! Don't forget today we have only looked at the British and Irish crests, Germany and many other countries had similar systems. I have been fortunate to view some French & Spanish intaglios and my mother's ancestors crest below which was German.

My mothers' great grandmother and grandfather came to Australia in 1877. I am in the process of learning about the German Heraldry system and trying to find an intaglio from this side of my family so there may be a follow up to this blog! Stay tuned

Thank you for letting me share this passion with you, hopefully it has ignited the heraldry detective in you too.

Until next time, stay sharp detectives!

Sarah