From: andersa@Riga.DoCS.UU.SE (Anders Andersson)
Newsgroups: rec.heraldry
Subject: Latvian heraldry (was: Concepts of family and state heraldry)
Date: 13 Sep 1992 04:42:57 GMT
Organization: Uppsala University, Sweden
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: riga.docs.uu.se

In article <1992Sep11.213545.734@Princeton.EDU>, vnend@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (D. W. James) writes:
> In article <18qij3INNesd@corax.udac.uu.se> andersa@Riga.DoCS.UU.SE (Anders Andersson) writes:
> )When travelling through the Baltic Soviet republics in the summer
> )of 1989, my best souvenir was a pair of posters sold (for a few
> )roubles, which meant they weren't primarily intended for western
> )tourists) next to the Liberty monument in central Riga, Latvia.
> )The posters showed the national coat of arms of the independent
> )state of Latvia, plus the municipal coats of arms of several
> )Latvian towns.  None of them carried the heraldic attributes of
> )the Soviet government, of course.
> 
> 	Drool.  That's the kind of thing I keep and eye out for, and
> seldom find.  (Then again, I don't get to travel in the Baltics either...)

The posters of state and town arms I have are titled _Latvijas valsts
gerbonis_ and _Latvijas pilsetu gerboni_ respectively, and they are
published by some organization of young artists, with the address
Jauno Makslinieku, Nama Jana Seta 7, Riga, Latvia.  This is what's
printed on one of the posters, but I don't know whether it's still
valid.  I've considered trying to order extra copies for potential
distribution here, but I haven't done anything about it due to
lazyness and uncertainty about suitable payment methods.  The posters
read 1.00 and 0.50 "rublis" respectively, but I guess this is not
the currency they would like to have from abroad, and today...

The colour printing and choice of paper could be a little better,
but I consider it extremely good for Soviet conditions (as they
were indeed Soviet back in 1989).  Especially silver looks like
some kind of grainy light blue on the town arms poster, which
depicts in small images the coats of arms of Riga and 59 other
Latvian towns.

Unfortunately, I don't know whether these arms are traditional, or
made up recently during independence or Soviet occupation.  I think
many of them fit very well in line with traditional Swedish town
arms, while a few of them have a slightly 'exotic' look to my eye.

One point about the Latvian state emblem is it's unorthodox choice
of colour--I'm talking about the brownish red used in both the flag
and the coat of arms.  This isn't a true heraldic colour.  To what
extent is such deviation from the rules acceptable?  Is it in parity
with putting colour on colour or tincture on tincture, or is it in
a different ballpark?  I'd consider it a shame if heraldic stringency
would somehow 'invalidate' the Latvian coat of arms, because I think
it's a very nice composition as it stands!

> can find.)  There are some lovely arms out there and some truely
> aweful ones (especially in the old Soviet-bloc and friends) but mostly
> the latter because I'm trying to extend heraldic blazon to describe things
> that aren't really heraldic.  As an exercise in futility, it's a wonderful
> learning experience.

While the Soviet replacement for traditional heraldry doesn't really
mix well with the original, I think 'communist heraldry' makes up an
interesting topic all by itself, ugly or not.  It's perhaps best kept
apart from the real discipline, but the municipal arms of Heby, Sweden,
contains among other things two red sickles with crossing blades and a
red pair of pincers, and there are plenty of hammers all across the
rest of the country... ;-)
--
Anders Andersson, Dept. of Computer Systems, Uppsala University
Paper Mail: Box 325, S-751 05 UPPSALA, Sweden
Phone: +46 18 183170   EMail: andersa@DoCS.UU.SE