Precedents of Bruce Draconarius of Mistholme

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PROPER

Tabby cats have no defined proper coloration. The Simon & Schuster Guide to Cats cites several different tinctures of tabby cat: silver tabby, cream tabby, blue tabby, brown tabby, and red tabby, among others. Without a fixed coloration, it cannot be blazoned "proper." (Bronwyn ferch Gwyn ap Rhys, July, 1992, pg. 9)

The urchin proper is...brown, with a white face and belly (Mairghread of Ryvel, August, 1992, pg. 16)

A pomegranate proper (as seen in the arms of the Kingdom of Grenada) is vert, seeded gules. (Magdalena Aeleis MacLellan, August, 1992, pg. 24)

An heraldic dolphin proper is vert with gules details. (Aodhán Doilfín, September, 1992, pg. 18)

The catamount proper is effectively Or (Roland de Mounteney, September, 1992, pg. 46)

[Argent, arms proper] The arms have insufficient contrast on the argent field. Human flesh "proper" was sometimes emblazoned as argent in period tomes; and in any case, carnation (pink) cannot be seen against white. (Simona Zon d'Asolo, September, 1992, pg. 51)

Technically, a melusine proper is considered neutral, and acceptable on argent; in practice, its contrast with an argent field is borderline [device returned for other contrast problems and for conflict]. (Simona Zon d'Asolo, September, 1992, pg. 51)

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[A phoenix gules, enflamed proper] The phoenix was blazoned on the LOI as proper, with the 12th Century Cambridge Bestiary cited as the authority (via Dennys' Heraldic Imagination). While the Bestiary describes the phoenix as "reddish purple," I would hesitate to define that as its heraldically proper tincture. As it turns out, there's at least one period heraldic example of a phoenix proper: the crest of the Worshipful Company of Painters, granted 1486, is blazoned a Fenyx in his propre nature and coloure. That phoenix is colored mostly gold, with red highlights and details. (Bromley & Child, Armorial Bearings of the Guilds of London, p.184 and plate 39)

As the phoenix in this submission is not tinctured like the phoenix proper in the Painters' crest, I have reblazoned it gules. (Astrid of Flanders, October, 1992, pg. 1)

The Cornish chough proper is black with red beak and feet; like a sword proper, it's a shorthand description of heraldic tinctures, not a complex Linnaean depiction. (George of Mousehole, October, 1992, pg. 1)

A popinjay proper is green with red details; it's a shorthand term for heraldic tinctures, not a Linnaean proper. Moreover, unlike many such terms, popinjays proper are period. (Aeruin ní hEaráin ó Chonemara, October, 1992, pg. 10)

The heraldic rainbow proper has four stripes, vert, argent, Or and gules, in that order (on a light-colored field, which [this submission] implies). The submitted rainbow [colors not given] isn't correctly tinctured for a heraldic rainbow; neither is it properly tinctured for a natural rainbow. And blazoning each of its stripes individually would only emphasize the non-heraldic nature of the submission [badge returned]. (Ruben Klaus Winterhalter, October, 1992, pg. 24)

[Boar's heads colored brown] Unfortunately, [this tincture is] unblazonable: they aren't proper, for boars in nature are dark-grey to black in color. Nor does there seem to be such a thing as a brown boar that could be rendered in this coloring. With no way to blazon the tincture of the heads, this must be returned. (Nils Rixon, October, 1992, pg. 27)

Peacocks proper have green bodies. (Fernando Juan Carlos Remesal, October, 1992, pg. 29)

Rule VIII.4.c is amended to read:

VIII.4.c. Natural Depiction --- Excessively naturalistic use of otherwise acceptable charges may not be registered.

Excessively natural designs include those that depict animate objects in unheraldic postures, use several charges in their natural forms when heraldic equivalents exist, or overuse proper. Proper is allowed for natural flora and fauna when there is a widely understood default coloration for the charge so specified. It is not allowed if many people would have to look up the correct coloration, or if the Linnaean genus and species (or some other elaborate description) would be required to get it right. An elephant, a brown bear, or a tree could each be proper; a female American kestrel, a garden rose, or an Arctic fox in winter phase, could not.

The adult male moose is darker in coloration than most cervids; its coat is almost black, and its antlers dark brown. (Harper & Row's Complete Field Guide to North American Wildlife, plate 63) The latter thus have sufficient contrast with this [ermine] field. (Erik Norton of Helsfjord, November, 1992, pg. 4)

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Oars proper are understood to be made of brown wood. (Alberic of Seawall, December, 1992, pg. 13)

The owls were blazoned on the LOI as brown owls ...proper, but no such type of owl exists. The submitter insisted on having owls as drawn on her submission forms (brown, without spots or streaks, and without ear tufts), while we insisted on a species of owl known to period Europeans. The tawny owl (Strix aluco) meets all these requirements, according to Cerny's Field Guide to Birds, pp.140-141. (Danielis Pyrsokomos, January, 1993, pg. 17)

[On a flame Or a salamander gules] Possible conflict was ...cited with the [A salamander proper]. Technically speaking, the medieval heraldic salamander would have been a reptile with spurts of flame, or at most lying on a bed of flame; in any event, the reptile would have been the primary charge. Here, the flame is the primary charge, and the salamander a tertiary. We might still have called a visual conflict, all other things being equal, had we been able to ascertain the tincture of a salamander "proper". We still aren't sure what that might be, but it doesn't seem to have been gules: Franklyn & Tanner, for instance, state that the salamander is "Generally argent or Or, and occasionally vert." In any event, we can give the submitter the benefit of the doubt on this conflict [badge returned for a separate conflict]. (Balian de Brionne, July, 1993, pg. 15)

[A bumblebee proper] The bee in this submission is tinctured sable and Or, with argent wings. Bees are sometimes blazoned proper in mundane armory (Papworth, p.957), so there must be a defined tincture --- but none of my sources say what that might be. The coloration of this submission, however, is the SCA's most common attempt at "proper"; I shall henceforth adopt it as the Society's definition of a bee proper. (Aideen the Audacious, September, 1993, pg. 1)

A peacock feather proper is mostly green, with an iridescent roundel near the end. This is therefore [a CD from] A feather azure. (Alena Vladimirovna, September, 1993, pg. 6)

There [is] little difference between a peacock proper and a peacock azure [i.e., not a CD]. (Caitlyn Emrys, September, 1993, pg. 20)

There is no defined "proper" coloration for a griffin. (Gavin Gamelson, October, 1993, pg. 16)

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