If you can’t ID this COA then if you could translate it into Heraldese, I could work with that. An employee at the Library of Congress once told me to get the image translated into proper Heraldese then hit the web with that, and often it works. The COA is cast into the top of a small bronze cannon made by Matthew Bagley in London ca. 1770. The cannon would have been owned by an upper-class family. https://flic.kr/p/2pwbu3M. It could be the maker’s own COA for all I know.
It could have something to do with Ulster (Northern Ireland). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Hand_of_Ulster https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coat_of_arms_of_Ulster#
Thanks, so part of the description might be “sinister hand erect.” So what’s Heraldese for “two lions rampant facing each other.”?
“Two lions rampant combatant” maybe._So maybe now we address the crescent. It is probably just “crescent.” https://i0.wp.com/familyhistoryfoun...raldic-lion-positions-FOX_DAVIES-03.jpg?ssl=1
“Two lions rampant combatant, sinister hand erect, crescent.” Is a term needed explaining the crescent being at the top?’’
Earl of Kingston appears to be an Irish title. I wonder if the arms were specific to the Earl at the time the cannon was cast, and changed over time.
I don’t know much but I think the COA pictured in the book, and the small version of it on the cannon, belonged to the viscount as long as he lived.
Ok, so it is, thanks for catching that. So I’ll try putting the changed description in various places. The King person’s COA has the lions and sinister hand but no crescent. Are you saying it is a match for the description er have?
No, it doesn´t seem to be a match. It was just to show that it was sinister, and to show the description they added, as this could help you in your search. Strange thing about King's crest is, that if you look for 'crest Earl of Kingston', you only get the one on this page with the siniter hand, and all others have a dexter hand. According to the wiki-page AJ posted, the siniter hand would be for a baronet. But if you google for baronet in combination with all other info (rampant lions etc) nothing usefull pops up. As you already mentioned, the hand in combination with the crescent gives Lorton as result, so I was hoping there would be a site with the crest of a baronet of Lorton, but no luck with that...
Guess we’ll keep working it, if no one here figures out this hand problem that’ll give me an excuse to talk to the LOC ppl.
Am I the only one that sees what looks like a small dog JUST above the crescent?? And if it's there, does it have any meaning???
Thanks, I think that’s just an unchased artifact of casting. Not high enough. I’d look at the top of the design and see a “2” at top left and a possible “G” at top right.
The founder, Bagley, is slightly famous in that he was killed by an explosion in his foundry, when the sand in the casting pit was slightly damp when the molten bronze was poured in. 1719.