The blazon of our Coat of Arms (at least within my branch of the family) describes our crest as being an ibex’s head, erased, sable, eared, armed, collared and lined gold. Despite my excitement at discovering this, many of these words had no meaning to me and I set about learning their significance. Erased describes a head, forcibly ripped from the body, as opposed to severed from it, leaving a jagged edge. Sable is an ancient word for the tincture equivalent to black. Eared describes the...

I have a distinct memory of my mother’s signet ring throughout my childhood. It’s lustrous gold band was crowned with a beautiful blue...