Bogus commercial heraldry....

[Scotus]

I don't mind the vendors of this c**p. They do serve a purpose. Many a tourist has come into a festival and found some kind of emblem on a key chain, pin, or piece of paper with their surname on it and purchased it for whatever reason. Then on the way out they tend to think about it and stop into the genealogy tent. I have had the pleasure of being in the tent of The Irish Ancestral Research Association at a festival, and taken a few of the tourists on a climb of their family tree. The bucket shop c**p got their attention, and taking the c**p home and putting it above the fireplace reminds them of the research that they should really do. It has brought many into an interest in their Irish, Scot, or English family connections as stable hands for a tenant farmer in the ould sod. I look at it the same way as a tat kilt getting someone interested in kilting enough to graduate to the real deal.
I have a few of these " Arms" on display in my house as artwork, as that is all they are worth.

I respectfully disagree. While people may have gotten interested because of the bucket shops, it doesn't justify the scam they are pulling off. They say, "This is your family 'crest' [it's a coat of arms, btw]," and that fact is... it isn't. I just don't think what they do can be justified on the basis that some people might get interested in genealogy. There are still a lot of people who are going to take this stuff home, hang in on their wall (or get a tattoo ), and say, "This is my family crest."

I had to laugh at Pleater's comment:

Perhaps if you explain to your lady that the actual owner of the crest might have every right to remove if from your person she might change her mind?

Good one!

Anyway, my opinon is the same in regard to those cheep kilts, but this thread is about bogus heraldry.

[sirdaniel1975]

Some examples of Generic Scottish Heraldry. I happen to like this stuff due to its nationalistic intentions.


The thistle crest badge I mentioned.


The lion crest badge I mentioned.


A Scottish Saltire shield patch. I have one of these.

Here's a couple of cities heraldry examples. They are available in blazer crest badge patches from the Scottish Tartans Museum & Bold Blades.


City of Glasgow


Aberdeen

I used these two because these are a couple of the areas I've traced my ancestry to. I have also traced the family bloodlines to Caithness, Sutherland, and Fife.