The Gauntlet - September 2008

September 2008 Gauntlet

A Publication of Armorial Gold Heraldry Services

HERALDRY RAMBLINGS

CONTEST WINNERS

Those who successfully named this ancient 16th century dagger, were few.

We had 65 entries of which 3 termed it the Trident Dagger, or the Main Gauche, the terms we accepted. Staff pulled a name from the heraldry hat and the winner was:

Kieran Hrebtiewsky

Others who had it right, were:

David Songer
Bill Knight

STAFF NOTES

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Thumbnail image viewers make things much easier to find the images you need. Those who have upgraded to Windows Vista, no longer have this option, and those with MAC OS will need a viewer. Here are the more popular ones:

WINDOWS VIEWER

ST Thumbnails Explorer is shareware (Try Before You Buy) application. You can download full-function trial version and try it 30 days absolutely free. Views WMF, CDR, AI and a myriad of other file formats. https://www.softfields.com

MAC WMF VIEWER

WMF viewer for Mac by Cristallight. This is shareware and currently sells for $9.95. Many new improvements of late, and now offers full screen thumbnail views. Here's their address. https://www.cristallight.com

Know of others, let the office know....

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Do not judge by appearances; a rich heart may be under

a poor coat.

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MOLETTE

The French term for a six pointed pierced star....not to be confused with the English term "Mullet" which is a (plain) five pointed star.

Included this month is an Eagle attacking. This differs from the usual preying or trussing.

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A FRET ENGRAILED

Rare, but we have had numerous requests for it. We have included one, this month...

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NEW THIS MONTH

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HERALDRY FOUNTAIN

Represents a well or spring of water and often used as a symbol of the mariner. Occasionally borne as an illusion to the first bearer's name, i.e.: Wells, Sykes, Weller etc. May also be blazoned as a roundel barry wavy of 6, 8 etc, In fact, the French and other countries blazon it a bezant undee argent and azure.

This should not be confused with a water fountain which is a symbol of status, life and fertility, and dates back to the Romans and Egyptians

AMERICAN FAMILIES

Coming Soon

An Interesting collection, based on the Bolton's 1929 Book, An American Armory, will feature about 1600 images representing some of America's early settlers....many rare surnames are included. Here's a pic

MONK SYMBOLISM

Prompted by a member, we are including here the symbolism of a monk. Generally, a monk is a symbol of spiritual wholeness; certain countries expand this to include: sacrifice, sanctuary and protection. Canting or punning arms for Monk, Monkton and others are to be considered.

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Watch for a great new mantle next month, as well as a peacock brush, a new set of daggers, and a wonderful shield template.

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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).