Russ Wayne COPPING

The partition of the shield into black and white reflects the bipolar nature of the universe – good and evil dark and light, positive and negative, etc, The line of partition represents first, the battlements of a castle and an interest in architecture and secondly, the cut branches of a tree and an interest in bonsai culture. The cross crosslets also represents two things: seen as daggers they stand for five years’ military service with the US Green Berets, seen as crosses they represents the Christian ethic. The crown of the crest alludes to the fleur-de-lys of the grantee’s birthplace of New Orleans and to membership of The Heraldry Society. The demi-male griffin is taken from the crest of the Coppings of Norfolk from whom Mr Copping is descended. The flash of lightning stands for his hobby of amateur radio and the gold sword is taken from the shoulder patch of the US Army Special Forces.