Heraldry- Assiatance to identify crest

[gordon byrne]

Hi,
Having trouble putting a name to this crest which is etched on the blade of a sword made by Reeves and sold by Hamburger Roger & Co, from King Street. I'm thinking the sword is circa 1850-52, but I may be wrong.

At each side of the main body of the crest, there seems to be the representaion of an Elephant tusk.

Putting a name to this crest would be a huge bonus.

Regards,

Gordon

[Mark McMorrow]

the Wood crest seems a close match...

Wood crest

[gordon byrne]

Hi Mark,

Thanks for your interest, and as you say the crest for Wood is certainly a demi-lion rampant couped however, he has a branch of oak in his paw, and with the crest on the sword, the lion appears to have some sort of jar or urn between his paws; I'm thinking this would be a different crest,

Gordon

[gordon byrne]

Sorry Mark, what I meant to say is that he is holding a jar or urn, but not between his paws.

[J.G. Hopkins]

Before I read on to see Mark's reply, I too thought Wood would be a match. I interpreted the object as an acorn. The Book of Family Crests does not mention an acorn with a branch, just an acorn: http://books.google.com/books?id=sME...0acorn&f=false

[Roy Hamilton]

It sure looks a lot like an acorn to me, just no branches.
Roy in Nv

[gordon byrne]

Yes, now I look at it again, it could well be a single large acorn; I originally viewed it as a lidded urn with a fluted body to the urn, I'll follow up on Wood and see what I can find.

Thanks gentlemen,

[MikeShowers]

How about Argente, or Argentin? A demi lion rampant holding a covered cup. The way it's being held seems to fit a cup more than an acorn IMHO. It does look like an acorn though...
Cheers,
Mike

[gordon byrne]

Gentlemen,

I have one possible candidate who fits the bill if we place the date of the sword at 1855; this is entirely possible, and is quite close to my guesstimate of 1850-52 in the overall scheme of things.

Samuel Edward Wood - Ensign, 16th February 1855 - Lieut. 10th June 1855 - 93rd Regiment of Foot.

I have looked at a number of people by the name of Wood in Burke's General Armory, and the Acorn figures quite prominently in the arms of many of this name.

[Bryan T]

Gordon,
Believe the crest to be: A demi-lion rampant purple holding an acorn proper. The crest of Wood of Codshall, County Somerset
The 'tusks' are decoration as these are not joined to the remainder of the crest or wreath, and also repeated in the base of the cartouche below the terse.
Hope this helps..

Bryan

[gordon byrne]

Bryan,

If the object held in the paw is in fact an acorn, which I now believe it is, I agree with your analysis and the blazon, which matches the etched crest perfectly. If I was looking for an acorn in the first place, I may have found the crest long ago, but unfortunately for me, I've been looking for a lidded cup (or urn) which was quite wrong.

Many thanks for your help.

Gordon

[gordon byrne]

To all concerned, many thanks for your help; just goes to prove that five heads are better than one, who maybe needs a new pair of glasses.

Gordon

[Bryan T]

Gordon,
You are very welcome.. I had to look at it a few times, as initially it looked like a lantern to me.. then a type of cup also.. but noted the shaded aspect of the base and the fact it is shown as being slightly larger than the top (acorn)
Bryan