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Coat of arms BMAG, wot no hammer ?

fatfingers

master brummie
I drove past the rear of the Museum today, Great Charles St. at least I think of it as the back. The entrance that used to have a Buddha type statue outside anyway.

Above the doors theres a carving of the Bham Coat of Arms, but where there is usually an arm wielding a hammer, theres what looks like an urn.

Just wondered why, has the COA changed over the years or what ?

The image of that hammer alwys used to scare me when I was little, used to see it on the side of buses and wondered why the people in the picture were getting hit on the head.

PS, cant find it on google streetview.
 
Yeah, I've seen that.

Theres an arm wielding either an axe or a hammer on all of them. So why is the BMAG one different ?

BTW Mike, how can you retire from being a Brummie ?
 
Yes you are right fatfingers,i did'nt bother buying a camera until i stopped driving five years ago.
 
It's the age of equality now moss, after all the years of the blacksmith getting the hammer on his head it's only right that the lady artst should have a turn as well.;)
Interesting to see too that she has swopped her book for a housebrick and he now has a spare toilet roll.
 
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Its actually called an 'achievement' of arms and the supporters technically can be either side. In a written description (called a blazon) it would just state that the supporters were; 1 lady artist and a smith with apron, coloured 'proper' without stating which side they were standing, unless it was a aristocrats blazon. The arms were first used in 1838 and were based on the de Bermingham arms (1343) with the ermine 'fess' of the Calthorpes across the middle (later changed to a cross). When the Birmingham Corporation applied for a 'differencing' in the arms in 1889 it was discovered that there had been no official grant of arms from the Royal College of Arms!!

The torse (the twisted bit just under the crown) evolved from the bnit of twisted rag that a knight would put on top of his head for his helm to rest on and the mantling ( the shaped bits that come from behind the helm) would have been rags soaked in water, put over a knights armour to help keep him cool between rounds in a tournament or between battles.
 
Useful information on Forward here Coat of arms of Birmingham

The arms have changed in 1889, 1936 and recently 1977.

The man used to be on the left, the woman on the right (until the 1970s).
Since the change the woman is on the left, the man on the right.
 
Actually to be correct it is an achievement of arms not a coat of arms. The difference being a coat of arms is worn and an achievement displayed.
Technically the supporters (figures either side) have not changed position, it is customary to depict the arms as they would be seen by the wearer. Ergo the female figure on the sinister (left) and the male on the dexter (right). Its just that whoever made the first arms with the figures reversed took it literally!!
 
Some recent pics of Forward coat of arms I've found.

Thinktank - City of Birmingham locomotive


Thinktank - Birmingham City Transport tram


Old fire station - Albion Street in the Jewellery Quarter


Close up of that window at BM & AG
 
The Old Fire Station - Moseley Road, Highgate - now the Birmingham Theatre School





Two have ended up at the National Tramway Museum in Crich, Derbyshire!



 
The Birmingham Municipal Bank was open as part of Hidden Spaces and Birmingham Heritage Week, and I saw these 4 Forward windows inside.

Commerce Integrity




Labour Perseverance




Banking Finance




Industry Progress

 
Very nice pictures

It wasn't until I joined the forum and saw threads such as these that I realised the coat of Arms actually changed.

Steve R
 
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