Agricultural and Commercial Heraldry

Organised agriculture, commerce, and industry all make use of heraldry, though perhaps as not as much as in the past. Today the preference seems to be for corporate logos.

Agriculture

The arms of the SA Agricultural Union (now Agri-SA) were Per fess Or and Vert, a pile counterchanged charged in chief with a sun in splendour Or and in base with five barrulets wavy Vert (BoH 1970). They appear to have influenced the second arms of the Land & Agricultural Bank, which were Vert, a portcullis Or, on a chief Or two barrulets wavy surmounted by a pale Vert, thereon a sun in splendour Or (BoH 1974). The Land Bank's first arms (BoH 1966) depicted livestock and a portcullis. Nowadays, both these bodies use logos.

Several wineries use coats of arms as their corporate identity symbols. Some use the arms of their proprietors, such as Blaauwklippen (Boonzaaier), Jacobsdal (Dumas), Overgaauw (Van Velden), and Spier (Joubert). Others display the arms of the co-operatives to which they belong, and some use pseudo-arms which, probably, were designed as trademarks. The Nederburg winery uses two versions of its arms: with a field Vert for white wines, and with a field Gules for red wines. Groot Constantia, which was taken over by the Cape colonial government in the 1880s, displays the old colonial arms on its label.

Commerce

The Pietermaritzburg Chamber of Commerce & Industry arms (BoH 1996) include symbols of commerce (gold coins), industry (bees), and the city (stars): Azure, a fess Or masoned Sable between in chief a mullet of the second between four mullets Argent placed 2 and 2, and in base a bee volant or between two bezants.

The Southern Life Association bore arms, which were Quarterly Argent and Sable, on an inescutcheon Azure an escarbuncle Or (BoH 1967). They were based on those of the Dutch town of Westervoort, after which the property where the company's head office was housed had been named. The Standard Bank has canting arms, which were adapted into a logo in the 1980s: Azure, flying from a staff proper in bend a standard with cords and tassels Or (CoA 1955, BoH 1963).

South Africa's first commercial airline, Union Airways (1929-34) used an armorial device, which might be blazoned as Or, a single-engined aircraft in dorsal view Sable; a bordure Sable fimbriated Gules. No other South African airline seems to have been armigerous.

The Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie ("Dutch East India Company"), which founded the first European settlement in South Africa (in 1652) and ruled it until 1795, was armigerous. Its arms might be blazoned as Argent, on waves of the sea a four- masted sailing ship in full sail, pennants tierced in fess Gules, Argent and Azure flotant to dexter all proper. For everyday purposes, though, the company used a VOC monogram logo rather than its arms.

Industry

The arms of the Building Industries Federation of South Africa are an interesting design displaying tools of the builder's trade: Vert, a set square between in chief three plummets and in base a mason's level all chevronwise Argent (BoH 1971).

The Electricity Supply Commission's arms make an obvious statement about the company's business: Azure, a flash of lightning zigzag in bend Or between two insulators of three parts each proper (BoH 1966). Nowadays, Eskom uses a circular logo incorporating a stylised lightning flash, but not the insulators.

The arms of the Garden Cities Trust allude to its Western Cape home base and to its role in developing residential suburbs: Or, a chevron Azure between in chief two disa flowers slipped proper and in base a mural crown Gules masoned Sable (BoH 1973)

The arms of Goldfields of South Africa - which appears to have been the only armigerous mining house - were Gules, two shovels in saltire Or blades in chief within a bordure of twenty-eight bezants (BoH 1964).

The Mines Rescue Service recently registered arms, which are: Per chevron Or and Sable, a fillet chevron of the first, in chief flames of fire Gules and in base a latticed mineshaft Argent (BoH 2002). The mineshaft might also be blazoned as a mine headgear.

The arms of the Rand Water Board (BoH 1970) are simple and allusive: Argent, five bars wavy Azure. However, to judge from its website, the RWB has shelved its arms in favour of a logo.

References/Sources/Links

South African Heraldry Website © Arthur Radburn