Coat of Arms pic.

This is not my work I'm adding something to it, however I was impressed with the engraving so I wanted to pass it on to those interested in cutting coat of arms. I do about 20 of these a year, this one he or she did for me was cut so deep it was a great study for me maybe it will be for you all as well. hope you can see the detail in the photo.

God Bless
Ron Proulx

Thanks for posting this, Ron. I really enjoy seeing seal engraving. I recently acquired 3 very old wax seal impressions that were done by an engraver in England. I'll try to post them soon.

That's excellent that you're doing 20 a year! I might do half that many, and I'm glad to see there's a market for them. Do you see any increase in demand? / ~Sam

I don't see an increase per say I handle around 50 stores nationally that are my base and another 50 or so that are now and then users of hand engraving, so out of that group one of them always seams to come up with the need last year I had a customer order thirteen one for each member of the family. That was a nice pay day

this forum is great, but is taking me forever to learn how to use it. sam, i have a book on heraldic engraving that may interest you. authored by fox & davies. printed in 1978. by bonanza about 600 pages. lots of great drawings, and a ton of great reading on the science of heraldry. the book is not for collectors. some pages have been cleanly cut, i think to facilitate copying. all pages are in the book. there is no cover and the jacket has writing on it . but, the book has some nice drawings and some great reading. i bought this book for $20.00 a few years ago. you are more than welcome to borrow this book, or even buy it if you like.
if you would want to take a look at it, monk45@verizon.net

I'm pretty sure I have that one, Monk. I appreciate your offer though. Heraldry is a fascinating subject, and this book pretty much covers it all.

Heraldry is a fascinating subject indeed. A couple of years ago I was doing a demonstration of engraving at the CLA Game Fair. A couple of brothers were working on the stand to and they proudly showed me their signet rings which were cut just like this one. The work had been executed very well. I asked them whether they ever planned to use them as seals to which they replied in the affirmative. I then had to break it to them that even though it had been cut to a depth which would have made a beautiful seal it would be back-to-front! Like this one it was cut in the positive rather than the negative. This is something anyone contemplating cutting signet rings must assertain from the client. If it's not going to be used as a seal, and is going to be cut in the positive, surface engraving often gives more detail.

One other thing I learned from a heraldic engraver aquaintance, when cutting heraldic motifs it should be shaded 'on the right and under', meaning there should be a shadow on the right (and underneath) of the shield (and everything on it) on the helm and crest and mantling. I checked this out in an old English heraldry book I have and he was right.

However, I have a European book on heraldic art and this doesn't always seem to be the case. Now here's the question. Is this because the artist (or engraver) and, indeed, the client doesn't understand or hasn't been taught these tiny details? What happens then of course is things gradually take on a different appearance as they become debassed. Take it from me there's a world of difference; one looks alive and the other flat and boring. I'll try to photograph (don't have a scanner) the differences between the two and post it, then you can judge for yourselves.

I think the book to which you refer is The Art of Heraldry by Arthur Charles Fox-Davies originally published in 1904.

the manner in which the cuts were executed, direction, crosshatching, etc, etc was also used to depict color in an engraving to more accurately identify the original colors in the heraldic devices the engravings represented.

That's sweet Ron, Thanks for sharing.