Certificate Of Authenticity - Sanson Institute of Heraldry
Larry Y.
personalized set of glassware, decorated with my "family coat of arms." It
was only $30.00, and it included "free research" of my surname and a
parchment "certificate of authenticity." It seemed harmless enough, and I
ordered it.
The glassware has long been broken and discarded, but I did file away the
certificate. After having seen all the posts on phony coats of arms, I
thought that some of you might like to read exactly what these companies
print on these certificates. So, here it is, in its entirety.
Funny thing--I searched for the name of the reference work on Alta Vista and
actually found a couple of websites where people had posted their "family
coats of arms" and quoted Sanson Institute of Heraldry as the certifying
authority!
If anyone knows what ever became of the Sanson Institute, or if they have
any information about the purported reference work from which my coat of
arms was allegedly found, I'd appreciate it if they would post details.
Obviously, I KNOW that this "certificate" is a fake. What else could I
expect for 30 bucks?
text follows:
_______________________________________
CERTIFICATE OF AUTHENTICITY
This is to certify that the armorial bearings indicated hereon has been used
in centuries past by a person or family with the **** surname or an
anomatological variant thereof and are therefore judged to be associated
with this name.
From information available to us we are also able to provide
"Quarterly: 1st and 4th azure, a lion rampant ot partition or, crowned the
same, 2nd and 3rd or, an eagle displayed to the partition sable, crowned of
the field, over all an escutcheon gules, a woman proper, crowned or, hair
flying proper, sejant on bear passant sabel, & holding in each hand a
pennant that to dexter per fess gules & argent, that to sinister pre fess
azure, and argent"
as the heraldic description of this armorial bearing and acknowledge the
following work of reference:
"Les Planches de l'Armorial General"
by J. B. Rietstap
The reference source stated above does not indicate that this arms was an
official grant, however this does not preclude that the arms was officially
recorded.
We further certify that Sanson Institute of Heraldry being the leading
heraldic specialists have individually researched and prepared this
certificate and unreservedly guarantee its heraldic authenticity as stated
and that the original graphic form of this arms prepared by our heraldic
artisans has been placed in the permanent files of the Sanson Institute
under:
Manuscript No. 1495 Folio DM
Certified this thirty-first day of January Nineteen Hundred seventy-seven.
Heraldic Officer: A. J. Thurston
Mark E Sievert
Larry Y. <nos...@nospam.net> wrote in message
news:l6qm8.1645$Tk.9...@newsread1.prod.itd.earthlink.net...
>
<snip>
> If anyone knows what ever became of the Sanson Institute, or if they have
> any information about the purported reference work from which my coat of
> arms was allegedly found, I'd appreciate it if they would post details.
After preforming a net search, I can safely say that Sanson is not on the
net, though dozens of family websites reference S.I., with issued
certificates.
>
> Obviously, I KNOW that this "certificate" is a fake.
Not quite a fake. They do in a wordy way, spell out that the arms in
question were in use at one time by someone or family with the same name.
What does that mean? 99% chance they aren't yours.
What else could I
> expect for 30 bucks?
Caveat emptor. :-)
>
> text follows:
<snip>
>
> as the heraldic description of this armorial bearing and acknowledge the
> following work of reference:
>
> "Les Planches de l'Armorial General"
> by J. B. Rietstap
This is the book(s) used by most mail order arms companies. The Rietstap
lists tens of thousands of armigers mainly in Britain, France, Germany,
Poland, Spain, Italy, Scandinavia, and the Low Countries.
Burke's General Armorial is probably the most used for British usage.
Best regards,
Mark E. Sievert
Barb Wise
turned out to be interesting.
See http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Atlantis/8256/ for an example of a
Sanson Institute provided Coat of Arms. The certificate for this one was
signed by A. J. Adams. Funny that both Adams and your signer Thurston both
have the initials A. J.
I wonder if that stands for "a joke."
--
Barb
Orange County, Indiana, Marriage Record Index:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~woodhousegenealogy/
Larry Y.
> > following work of reference:
> >
> > "Les Planches de l'Armorial General"
> > by J. B. Rietstap
>
> This is the book(s) used by most mail order arms companies. The Rietstap
> lists tens of thousands of armigers mainly in Britain, France, Germany,
> Poland, Spain, Italy, Scandinavia, and the Low Countries.
You mean that there actually IS a book by Rietstap?? I thought that it
might have been one of Sanson Institute's "private files," or something. Is
this book available at libraries, or is it one of those obscure things that
has been out of print for decades?
Mark E Sievert
You can find it in larger libraries, such as state universities or large
municipalities. Sometimes ebay sells one in the low hundreds ($). I own a
copy of Rolland's Illustrations for the Rietstap Armorial, but not the
armorial itself.
It was published in the late 19th century, with some sporatic reprints. The
blason language is French.
MES
Mark E Sievert
Dennis Lee Bieber <wlf...@ix.netcom.com> wrote in message
news:6u1o9uoci9u02fnef...@4ax.com...
> On Fri, 22 Mar 2002 23:35:06 GMT, "Mark E Sievert"
> <Siev...@worldnet.att.net> declaimed the following in alt.genealogy:
>
> > It was published in the late 19th century, with some sporatic reprints.
The
> > blason language is French.
> >
> heraldic french to old heraldic english...
Having the illustrations to the written blazons, I can make good guesses as
to the really arcane contracted French used.
>
> As quoted in my old Halbert's volume from Rietstap:
>
> "
> Tranche: au 1 d'azur au cator ramp., au nat; au 2 d'arg. plein
> cq. cour.
> "
> I have no idea what the "plein cq. cour." references but the
> illustration would be in "normal" blazon:
>
> per bend: azure a beaver rampant proper; argent
>
> (hmm, plein is "open" in my French/English dictionary, and cour. could
> be couronnement "crown"...
You are very close. cq. cour. is casque courone(sp?) which means a crest
coronet.
The books contain an index key to to the contracted French blazons.
if plein were some variant of plume it would
> make some sense for the crest -- depends on what cq. is short for --
> otherwise it may just be added emphasis that the lower side of the bend
> division is just an empty field of silver)
>
> --
> > ============================================================== <
> > wlf...@ix.netcom.com | Wulfraed Dennis Lee Bieber KD6MOG <
> > wulf...@dm.net | Bestiaria Support Staff <
> > ============================================================== <
> > Bestiaria Home Page: http://www.beastie.dm.net/ <
> > Home Page: http://www.dm.net/~wulfraed/ <
Charlene Charette
> A big mark against it... <G> One needs a dictionary of old
> heraldic french to old heraldic english...
This might help: http://www.heraldica.org/topics/glossary/
--Charlene
--
When aiming for the common denominator, be prepared for the occasional
division by zero.
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