Heraldry Quiz: Achievement at Villa Philmonte

[Trotxâ]

Dear Fellows and Friends -

Heraldry is everywhere - even in the sumptuous mansion of an Oklahoma oil man. I found the heraldic banner at Philmont, and offer it as a quiz to the fine Fellows of the College. Take a look at the heraldic image below. Anyone want to offer a blazon?

In case you're not familiar with the story of Philmont Scout Ranch, here's a quick summary: In 1925, Waite Phillips sells his personal oil company for $25M cash US. (Phillips learned the oil biz from his two brothers, who founded the company known now as Phillips 66). Fascinated with cowboys, Waite buys a ranch in New Mexico for use as a summer vacation home. To keep his family happy, he builds a big villa on the property, which he named Villa Philmonte (roughly "Phillips Mountain").

In order to decorate this Mediterranean-styled mansion, Phillips and the Mrs. take a grand tour of Europe, and buy all sorts of decorations: tile, rugs, armour, furniture, artwork and a few banners. All sorts of folks came out to the ranch, including Wiley Post, Will Rogers and Vice President Charles C. Dawes (Lord Hooligan knows that Dawes served under Calvin Coolidge). In 1941, Phillips donates most of his ranch to the Boy Scouts of America, with the condition that the BSA uses it for a scout camp. He moves to California, and starts up buying real estate, mostly farms and orchards on the hilly west side of LA. We now call that area Beverly Hills. Phillips made his second fortune developing the land along Rodeo Drive.

One of the conditions of the donation was that the BSA has to keep the mansion open, so they've turned it into a museum. (See some great photos here). The villa is on the National Historic Register. In the dining room of the villa hangs a banner that is the subject of this summer's heraldry quiz.

All Fellows and Friends of the College are encouraged to study the emblazon on the banner. Once you perused it, please post a note here in this thread sharing the clues you have discovered about the original owner (not Phillips). All the docent could tell me was that Phillips bought the banner in Europe - other than that, she didn't know anything about it. I saw a couple of clues right away about the man who originally bore these arms. Please share what you see.

Technical notes: We weren't allowed to touch anything, so I couldn't move the huge silver platter (from Russia, measuring about 18" wide by 12" tall). As far as I could tell, the platter covers a ship. The lower portion is a different colour than the upper portions. Other than the part blocked by the platter, you see the whole achievement.

Good luck!

-- Jaune Sabre Herald, Squirrel King at Arms

[Sir C. M. Siervicül]

I'll start with a hint to help others in their research: the round wide-brimmed hat appearing above the shield is called a "galero."

[King John]

Well, first pass, the guy is a clergyman, or he wouldn't be using the ecclesiastical hat as a crest. (The cartouchy shape of the shield might make one guess clergy as well.) But the crest doesn't follow normal rules for clerical arms.

The patriarchal cross at the top of the cartouche makes me think we're dealing with a bishop or some other prelate. An Anglican bishop almost certainly would have used a mitre instead of the floppy hat, but even the greater clergy among Roman Catholics use the hat. Thing is, they don't use a *black* hat. Bishops use green, archbishops red (I think), and so on; it's only the lowly priests, canons, and so on, who would use black — and they wouldn't display the patriarchal cross. So I don't know what's going on here. Also, the tassels on either side of the hat are supposed to be colour- and number-coded to tell you the guy's rank, but again, gold isn't used as a tassel-colour. So mystery.

Another oddness is that the Roman clergy are forbidden to use motttoes in their achievements, but this looks as if there's a motto hidden behind the silver plate. You can see the ends of the ribbon.

So maybe we have an Anglican priest, whose father (?) is an archbishop or something, so he feels cool about using the cross? Just a guess.

Then there's the odd charge in dexter chief. Is that a label? For difference maybe?

OK, I blazon so:

Per fess azure a pale gules (and I'm not happy about the violation of the tincture rule) and per fess argent and azure a lymphad or, in dexter chief a label or. Crest, a patriarchal cross or surmounted by an ecclesiastical hat sable with two (three?) tassels on each side or. Supporters, two lions rampant guardant or, that to sinister maintaining in the sinister paw a sword, each surmounting a cannon proper. Motto: Argentea Occultus ("Hidden by the Silver Plate").

— John R

[Sir C. M. Siervicül]

john said:

The patriarchal cross at the top of the cartouche makes me think we're dealing with a bishop or some other prelate. An Anglican bishop almost certainly would have used a mitre instead of the floppy hat, but even the greater clergy among Roman Catholics use the hat. Thing is, they don't use a *black* hat. Bishops use green, archbishops red (I think), and so on; it's only the lowly priests, canons, and so on, who would use black — and they wouldn't display the patriarchal cross. So I don't know what's going on here. Also, the tassels on either side of the hat are supposed to be colour- and number-coded to tell you the guy's rank, but again, gold isn't used as a tassel-colour. So mystery.

The hat could be purple (look closely at where the light reflects). Which might suggest a monsignor. But the number and colour of tassels don't match a monsignor. I found a reference to cardinals wearing gold tassels, but it wasn't talking about heraldry, and besides that the number of tassels and the colour of the hat are way off.

But wait, the Catholic Encyclopedia provides a clue: "Honourary chamberlains and chaplains have the violet hat, but only three violet tassels." Maybe the cord and tassels are meant to be purple, like the hat, just accented with gold thread for decorative purposes.

[Capt. Sir Mick Preston]

What if it's not a person, but a place?

[Catrina Þestra]

Well, it's likely papal/clergy heraldry as the purpure colour and the hat suggest. Lions are obviously suggestive monarchical figures and there are some merchant influences (the ship). I would say it were Venetian, but can't really be certain.