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Ian Grant
Finest kilt accessories, heraldic & ornamental hand engraving

Extraordinary Herald’s Badge

Commission by The Lord Lyon King of Arms

This is the story of the recreation of the badge illustrated here, one of a set made for the coronation of George IV in 1821 and presented to the Lord Lyon to be worn by the Scottish Heralds.   The arrangements for the coronation were lavish: it was the most expensive ever held in Britain and, as with all other regalia made for the occasion, no expense was spared on these badges.   They are still in ceremonial use today.

The commission from The Lord Lyon was for badges for the Extraordinary Heralds: extra heralds who are appointed to supplement those on the ordinary list

The Ordinary List of Heralds

The ordinary list comprises:
  • Three senior Officers of Arms:
    • Albany Herald of Arms
    • Rothesay Herald of Arms
    • Ross Herald of Arms
  • Three junior Officers of Arms:
    • Unicorn Pursuivant of Arms
    • Carrick Pursuivant of Arms
    • Bute Pursuivant of Arms
All of whom are members of The Court of The Lord Lyon and may take part in ceremonial occasions.

They can be consulted by members of the public on matters of heraldry and genealogy whom they may represent before the Lyon Court.   The appointment is made for life and honours someone who has served the Lyon Court.   Presently there is one: the ex-Lord Lyon Sir Malcolm Innes of Edingight who is Orkney Herald Extraordinary.   He is also a member of the Lyon Court and one of his duties is to act as usher at the ceremony to instal new Knights to the Order of the Thistle

The Order of the Thistle

The Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle is an order of chivalry, which represents the highest honour in Scotland.

Appointments to the Order are entirely in the personal gift of The Queen and are not made on the advice of the Prime Minister, as are most other Honours.   In addition to some members of the Royal Family the order has sixteen members who must be born in Scotland.

Appointments are made for life so new appointments are made only when vacancies occur following the death a holder of the honour.   These appointments are traditionally made on St Andrew’s Day (30th November).

The Lord Lyon specified that the extraordinary heralds’ badges must comprise the Scottish crown, the figure of St Andrew and the Royal Arms of Scotland.   It would be suspended from a green ribbon: the colour associated with the Order of the Thistle.   Ian Grant had always admired the 1821 heralds’ badges and so decided to base his design on these.   The 1821 badges were made in gold with enamelled crown and St Andrew and with The Royal Arms engraved on the back (incorporating, in the centre, the arms of The House of Hanover).

After Ian had examined the 1821 herald's badge he made a record for the Lyon office of how it had been made.   We repeat this here.

How the original badge was made:

  • The Crown was made in five parts:
    • The orb and the cross
    • The face and the rear of the crown were engraved and hammered from the rear to give depth.
    • A wedge-shaped back-plate was made which echoed the two dimensional profile of the crown and, in the third dimension, deep at the top and thin at the foot.
    • The orb, cross, face and the rear of the crown were hard-soldered to the backplate.
  • Figure of St Andrew was made in three parts:
    • The back plate on which the figure was engraved.
    • The saltire and the thistle were then superimposed.
    • All parts were then engraved to take the enamel.
  • The Dome was made in three parts:
    • A central plate with grooved edge.
    • The front dome to which the figure of St Andrew was pinned, and possibly also soft-soldered.
    • The rear dome, which was engraved with the royal arms.
    • The front and rear were hard-soldered to the central plate.
    • The crown was then pinned and soft-soldered to the central plate.

The new badges were to be made in silver so it was decided that silver gilt would offer a good contrast for the crown, the figure and the arms.   Ian also considered that the shape of the Royal Arms of Scotland would not fit neatly into the shape of an oval, so it was agreed that the shield only would be used.


1821 Badge, front
2007 Badge, front
3.6cm x 7.3cm
(1.4" x 3")
2007 Badge, rear
1821 Badge, rear




Images
The commission from the Lord Lyon was for four badges, and so a master of each part of the badge was prepared from which a mould would be taken and castings prepared.   These were made, in silver, as we describe below.   Images below left is a url to a series of nine images and text illustrating the process.   Javascript must be enabled to view this sequence.
  • The Scottish Crown:The crown on the badge is, strictly, not the Scottish crown whose shape does not lend itself to the oval of the badge, so Ian has kept features of the Scottish crown but the outline shape more closely matches the imperial crown on the 1821 badge.
    • The crown was outlined in silver and the background engraved.
    • Each of the three parts of the crown which appears in cameo (in relief) was engraved separately and pierced out.
    • Each of these parts was then soldered in position on the outlined crown.
    • The crown itself was then pierced out and hammered from the rear to give it shape.
    • This process was repeated for the rear of the crown and both halves then joined.
    • The orb and cross were each made separately, joined and affixed to the crown
  • The St Andrew figure:
    • St Andrew, the outline of the cross, the outline of the thistle and the leaves were engraved on a silver backplate
    • His face was engraved and pierced out.
    • His hands, elbows and cross were engraved and pierced out.
    • The thistle itself (not the leaves) were engraved and pierced out.
    • These parts were then affixed to the engraved backplate, which itself was then pierced out and shaped from the rear to fit the dome.
  • The Shield of The Royal Arms of Scotland:
    • The background of the shield (the Petra Sancta representation of colour) was engraved on a silver backplate.
    • Each of the quarters was engraved and pierced out.
    • The quarters were affixed to the backplate which was then pierced out and shaped to fit the dome.
  • The rim on which the domes are secured:
    • A flat oval shaped plate, about an eighth of an inch wide and with a breadth of 1.4", was cut out. It is this plate to which the two silver domes are fixed.
    • Two narrower ovals were cut out and soldered to the outer edge of each side of the plate
    • These narrower ovals were then shaped so that they have a half-round profile.
From each of these masters a mould was made, silver castings taken, finished, polished and gold plated.

Finally the domes were made. These were not cast because the porous nature of cast metal and the impurities present mean that a casting with a large clear surface area can never have the fine polished finish of sheet silver, nor the colour.   So, for each badge two domes were beaten and fixed to the cast oval rim. The crown was then fixed to the top of the rim and the figure and arms were fixed to the domes.

This was not the task of one, but three, highly skilled men: the design and engraving by Ian, the piercing and soldering up by his son Fraser, the finishing and polishing and making the domes by Alan.   Between them they have created another historical piece.

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