Family crests
The Joy of a Family Crest
There is something rather wonderful about a family crest. Perhaps it is the sense of history, the romance of a long-forgotten family, or perhaps you simply like the design. Whatever the reason, once you start noticing family crests, you begin to see them everywhere: on silver, silver plate, cutlery, furniture, glass, paintings and, rather wonderfully, butter prints.
There is something wonderfully grand about having your family crest stamped into your butter. I am not sure quite how much more aristocratic you can get. Imagine sitting down to breakfast and being presented with a perfectly formed pat of butter bearing the family arms. Quite frankly, it seems a shame to put it on your toast.
Over the years, I have bought all sorts of things decorated with family crests: butter prints, chairs, silver, silver plate and cutlery. I have even managed to acquire a complete eight-place setting of silver flatware bearing a family crest, which is quite a thing to find.
Two particularly interesting pieces have even been found in Top Banana itself: an oak hall chair dating from around the 1860s and a piece of silver bearing a family crest. There is something especially pleasing about finding these things in your own business. They have, in a sense, come home twice: once to the house they were originally made for, and eventually to Top Banana.
But you don't have to be interested in heraldry to enjoy collecting crests. You might simply find one you like. Some are wonderfully elaborate, while others are surprisingly simple. Some have animals, birds or mythical creatures. I have seen family arms incorporating elephants, birds and all manner of creatures, and there is something particularly enjoyable about discovering the story behind them and then recognising the same crest when it appears on another object.
That, I think, is where the collecting becomes addictive. You find a piece of silver with a crest you recognise, then see the same crest on a piece of cutlery, and perhaps later on a chair. Before you know it, you are wondering whether you can assemble an entire collection belonging to one family.
Of course, you could also collect your own family crest. If you are lucky enough to have one, there is something rather special about finding objects bearing your own family's arms. A piece of silver might be beautiful in its own right, but add your own family crest and suddenly it becomes something much more personal.
The wonderful thing about antiques is that you don't have to be a member of the family whose crest is on the object. You don't even need to know exactly what the crest means when you first buy it. You can simply like it.
Perhaps you like the animal, the design, or the history behind it. Perhaps you have always been fascinated by a particular family. Or perhaps you just like the idea that, two hundred years ago, somebody thought it important enough to put their mark on the things they owned.
And perhaps that is the real joy of family crests. They are personal, but they are also universal. They tell us that people have always wanted to leave their mark on the things around them.
Then, two hundred years later, an antiques dealer comes along and buys the butter print, the chair or the silver—and suddenly someone else's family history becomes part of yours.
That is the joy of collecting family crests. You never quite know where the next one will turn up.
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