[tirrigh-heralds] Confusion about an online ordinary result

[Teceangl]

> I'm contemplating either "Fieldless, a wolf's head erased argent" or "Azure,
> a wolf's head erased argent" as my badge,

Not sure how you're searching, but there's a huge hole in that
collection of terms: couped.  No heraldic difference between erased
and couped, and if you were specifically searching on erased you'd
have missed all couped heads.  And then there are the fielded returns
against anything you might devise with a field. 'Azure, a fox's mask
argent' is a conflict with one CD for posture of the head. Searching
on words is dangerous.  Heck, there's at least one canine's head
that's blazoned without neck treatment: '(Fieldless) A wolf's head
ululant gules.'  So even if you think you're clever and search
'couped' also, you miss it.

You did hit Beast - Dog, though, so you don't need to see my litany on
all the terms registered that mean 'canine' and get no difference and
elude searches on specific words (like, oh, terrier for instance...)
:)

Note Alicia pulled up Head - Beast - Dog and scanned the category.
She might have plugged 'erased' into her browser search, as all her
cites were erased heads.  If so, same problem as above. She missed all
couped heads.  She's right (and could have found it in Laurel
precedents) that there's zero difference for treatment of the neck, be
it couped, couped close, erased, erased close, or anything else (once
upon a time in the early days erased might have been blazoned
'rayonny' in some spelling or another - there are several).

George of Glen Laurie - August of 1979 (via Caid): Azure, a St.
Bernard dog's head couped at the neck bearing a cask at its neck, all
proper. [Canis familiaris extrariis St. Bernardi]
Against the azure fielded proposal there is just one CD for head tincture.

Now the good news - clearing conflict is easy because the design is so
good. Charge the head (on the neck, that's the period spot) with a
good heraldic charge. A mullet, heart or saltorel would be highly
identifiable and wonderfully period. German armory uses gouttes on
heads. I've even seen a bird (martlet or the like, clean lines)
charging a period canine's head.  Pick something you like (not a
sword, not a cross moline) and make the tertiary charge azure. I
checked and that motif ought to be clear, at least in the fieldless
version. On a field it'd depend on what's already registered.  Fielded
badges are a pain anyway; you need to splotch on a blob of color in
standard heraldic shape of display. Fieldless can go _anywhere_. :)

- Teceangl
-- 
KWHSS website: http://kwhss.sca.org