Rich people need more to do.
Neat, thanks!
I think if you like the design, go ahead. Just don’t claim it’s *your *coat of arms if you want to be truthful. But no-one really cares nowadays - even in the UK. Despite the fact that it’s illegal in Scotland, it’s only ever going to be an issue if it’s the arms of someone who wants to raise a ruckus.
If it’s in different colours, it’s a different device, plain and simple. But if you like the monochrome version, use it. I wouldn’t say it “diminishes” it to do so. Since you aren’t the legitimate bearer, you can’t diminish it any more than you already would be just by using it at all.
Quite cool. It’s got five arrows like the Rothchilds.
Varies by location. I know, I know: amazing that something used throughout more than a continent for more than a thousand years may have rules that vary by location! In Spain we have both: family coats of arms, and individual ones which may be distinguished (identical to the family’s coat except for an addendum) or quartered (each quarter corresponds to each of the person’s first four lastnames… what, you thought we only had two? No, we only use two for ID :D). For example, if your lastname is any kind of variation of Ochoa (Basque for “wolf”), you have two wolves. Depending on which Ochoa (firstname plus name variation) you have other stuff, but the two wolves are there like the rain is wet.
To the OP: as with any other tattoo, what matters is what it means to you. You like it? Go ahead and do it.
Also, if you think you want a certain tattoo, wait for five years and see if you still want it. Then have it done.
As for the heraldry thing - if it’s just for a bit of fun and family history, then do what you want. Just don’t take it too seriously - as others have said, it isn’t yours and doesn’t grant you any special status.
Relevant anecdote - I had a childhood friend who turned up to school one day wearing a signet ring bearing ‘her family crest’. We all thought she was being snobbish and idiotic, as her family was in no way aristocratic, and her surname meant ‘coal carrier’.
Theoretically, you could be fined and have the offending arms destroyed. Realistically? Probably nothing. The Lyon Court mainly goes after businesses and organizations which use arms for which they have no right. Again, this is a form of trademark protection, and they consider it an offense roughly on the same level as tax evasion. The Lord Lyon King of Arms is always an attorney; the current one is a Q.C.
Well, it’s not completely silly. For example, in the UK, certain businesses have "Royal Warrants of Appointment - that is, they sell goods or services to the royal family. It’s prestigious, and considered to be a sign of high quality, so such businesses are permitted to display the royal arms in their advertising, as well as using the phrase “By Appointment to …. (whichever royal granted the warrant).”
If a chippie in Motherwell, say, displayed the royal arms and said “By Appointment to HM the Queen, purveyor of fish and chips”, the Lyon Court would have jurisdiction to slap that nonsense down.
The Lyon Court also oversees the messengers-at-arms , another post that sounds archaic but is not; these are the officers who serve legal documents and court orders, throughout Scotland. Process servers, in other words.
Man, you’d be amazed at how infrequently I get to show off my knowledge of Scottish heraldry and clan history. Get me on the Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs and I will go to town!
Perhaps a useful self-test would be to consider how you might feel about meeting someone who wears a flashy very expensive looking watch which, on close inspection is spelled ROWLEX.
Do you think - [a] ‘wow! chunky gold watch - what a classy person, they’re probably better than me somehow’; ** ‘its their watch and their money, so that’s fine’; [c] ‘poseur / wanker’; [d] ‘fraud victim?’.
Other people might be likely to have the same range of reactions on seeing your tat and asking what it means. Of course, if its just for you and not visible or paraded as a conversation starter, then who cares what other people think, although I’ve read somewhere than about 3/4 of tattoos were for other people to see, not for the wearer.
Heh. A friend of mine is a horologist. He primarily collects Rolex watches, which he constantly buys/sells. He has a side collection of extremely good fakes, including watches made entirely of Rolex parts.