A Publication of Armorial Gold Heraldry Services

OAK

This is an oak wreath and it denotes antiquity and strength. Acorns hold high significance as a Scandinavian and a Celtic symbol for life, fertility, immortality and perseverance.

It is said the Norse legend that Thor sought shelter from a thunderstorm under an oak tree has contributed to the belief that having an acorn on a windowsill will prevent a house from being struck by lightning.

A theme in Roman architecture and equally popular in Celtic and Scandinavian art, the acorn is used as an ornament on jewellery, furniture, and appears on finials in many countries.

Chaucer wrote of "achornes of okes" in the 1300s. Etymology connected the word both with "corn" and "oak-horn," and the spelling changed accordingly.

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ANVIL

Because anvils are very ancient tools and were at one time very commonplace, they have acquired symbolic meaning beyond their use as utilitarian objects. Denotes honour and strength; chief emblem of the smith's trade

ACACIA BRANCH OR LEAVES

It is said that the gods were born underneath the goddess Saosis' Acacia tree, north of Heliopolis. Horus (Egyptian God) was supposed to have emerged from an Acacia tree and as such this symbol was betoken on one to signify eternal and affectionate remembrance both for the living and the dead.

BISHOP'S MITRE

Denotes Episcopal jurisdictions and authority. If tinctured in black the Mitre is that of a Bishop (or Abbey), in red, that of a Cardinal, green, that of an Archbishop. It is said the mitre and the Papal tiara stem from the camelaucum, which was originally a cap used by officials of the Imperial Byzantine court.

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A Parrot by any other name

PARROT OR POPINJAY

In olden times called the popinjay, it was early bird in English and French heraldry. It was an Egyptian symbol of wisdom and of good counsel and in wealthy Roman households; it was the function of one slave to care for the family bird, which was often a parrot. In Medieval and renaissance Europe, it was only royalty or the very wealthy that kept parrots.

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800 Swiss Family Shields called the Swiss Confederation collection.  Influenced by the Germans, the French and the Italians.

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We are leaving this help tip up, as more and more of you are upgrading

your Corel Draw software to X3 or X4 or X6

Corel Draw has changed some default settings in X3 and X4 that can render your vector images black, do the same for your F9 preview and in the case of X4 display your image excessively dark.

Fixes:

• Top Command Bar/View Select 'enhanced' and not 'enhanced with overprints';

• Top Command Bar/Tools/Color Management Color Mode for Effects-should be set at RGB (not CMYK); 

• Top Command Bar/Tools Select 'Save Settings as default' ;

• When importing AG graphics into X4, make sure you first group your image before using the F9 full screen preview (X3 imports the graphic already grouped).

Popular Free Graphic Design software for the WMF file format.

It's easy to use. AG has prepared a simple tutorial and link to this software. Click on the Serif logo

EMF/wmf THUMBNAIL VIEWER

As of Windows Vista and Window 7, the Microsoft Windows Explorer no longer displays thumbnails image previews of EMF (Enhanced Metafile) and WMF (Windows Metafile) vector graphic images. This Windows Explorer plug-in restores this capability. At this writing this thumbnail viewer is free

Check the member resources page for more thumbnail viewers.