The Gauntlet - July 2009

A Publication of Armorial Gold Heraldry Services

HERALDRY RAMBLINGS

This month you'll find some wonderful new swords and the collection of Bordures Flory Counter Flory you've been waiting for. There are no new collections planned until the economy turns around but we continuing to improve our popular Gold Collection. Business for AG has been slow so we have much more time to work on things we've always wanted to, but never found the time to do them. Now that summer is upon us, our typically slow season, we have plenty of time to assist our members, should you need it.

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STAFF NOTES

A short Gauntlet this month, not a lot to say...remember when you're requesting help for something please respond to our emails so that we can close the ticket (our crystal ball is in the shop, if you know what we mean). Those who don't have the wild boar shown, you need only ask. Have a great summer.

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ESSORANT

The French term for when a bird is rising. You can use rising or wings expanded and inverted, which amounts to the same thing. Can also be used for mythological bird-like creatures.

ESCALLOP

One of heraldry's most frequently occurring charges, the escallop shell is the badge of a pilgrim. Sir Nicholas de Villiers who followed King Edward I, into Palestine, is said to have laid aside his ancient arms, and to have assumed the cross of St George in token of his country, and thereon five escallop shells in remembrance of this pilgrimage. The escallop is also symbol of the Apostle St. James the Great. The translation of his relics from Judea to Galicia in the northwest of Iberia was effected, in legend, by a series of miraculous happenings: decapitated in Jerusalem by Herod his body was taken up by angels, and sailed in a rudderless, unattended boat to Spain, where a massive rock closed around his relics. The family of D'Acre too, derives its name and arms, featuring three escallops, from an ancestor who distinguished himself at the siege of Acre (Third Crusade 1189).

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Artemis, the goddess of hunting, is the most closely linked with the Wild Boar. Artemis was the virgin goddess of the moon and the twin sister of Apollo. The Wild Boar's strength, courage, and ferocity made it a worthy adversary for the hunter. To the Celts, the Boar was an emblem of war and represented a fierce combatant when at bay, and it is said the Boar ceases fighting only with its life. In the ancient Celtic system the Boar is associated with the South and the element of Fire. It is connected with the life giving power of the sun. The Boar (and its not so wild cousin the pig), are probably the most important totem animals of the Gaelic Celts, particularly in terms of their connections with the Underworld (the mythological place of departed souls), as providers of spiritual nourishment. The Wild Boar symbol was often used as an armorial bearing of a warrior. When just the Boar's Head is used it signifies a token of hospitality; it was often the fee mentioned as due to the King as the condition of feudal tenure.

THE WORLDS LARGEST PROVIDER OF HERALDRY ART

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

your Corel Draw software to X3 or X4

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).

Adobe Illustrator Fix for CDR files using HSB color model

Some Art was created using the HSB color model (white). Illustrator CS and greater does not recognize the HSB color model, and shows those parts as black when opened. We have converted most Art to the RGB color model, but you may find the odd image that we missed.

FIX

ungroup the image and select the black, and using your mouse click on White in your color palette. If you can't figure it out, email the office naming the image file, and we'll do it for you. Note: the glitch applies to CDR files and not WMF files.