Sphere (heraldry)

Various basic arrangements of the sphere in the shield

The ball is a form in heraldry and is shown as a small circular disc in coats of arms , coats of arms fields and in the board , but also on other heraldic images.

Representation and blazon

The plastic form is one of the common figures . Various other names are common in heraldry. It is believed that the shape was modeled on ancient discus disks, cannonballs or bullets. Heraldists also emblazon these balls as balls or cakes . The latter name is derived from the French word tourteau . The possibility of reproducing coins is not excluded, then one speaks of pennies, coat of arms pennies , and they are consistently in gold, more rarely silver. It will also slice emblazoned and can then be larger. Other proper names have established themselves for special shapes: golden balls are also referred to as billen and silver balls as balls . The red color of the ball leads to the proper name pills .

The appearance in the coat of arms can be single, two or two over a ball. Pile-by-pole or beam-wise, also angled-left or inclined arrangement is possible. This is the most common form. However, coats of arms are also known which depict a multi-row stacking without touching upwards with a decreasing number (about 2: 1 or 3: 2: 1). The square arrangement 2 × 2, 3 × 3 and more are also common.

The sphere can - in the literal sense - be easily represented in three dimensions, but this is unheraldic.

Apple cross

Pearl cross

If a cross is filled with balls on the arms or the arms run out into these, it is an apple cross . With the pearl cross , the arms consist entirely of several balls. For both crosses there are spherical crosses like the other names of the sphere.

Heraldic figures with a round image are not always a sphere. Rings , two circles with different diameters but the same center, resemble this picture, but are directly in the field or on Herald pictures and not on a common figure . However, if the color of the coat of arms is identical to that in the circle, the common figure is to be described as a pierced disk .

Examples

• 

  2 over 1 balls
  ( Altheim )

• 

  5: 4 pole as Asked balls
  ( Warstein )

• 

  4 over 3 balls in changing colors
  ( Jandelsbrunn )

• 

  2: 2: 1 set balls
  ( bog rain )

• 

  
  ( County of Bentheim )

• 

  a red-silver split disc
  ( Pasching )

• 

  Schmid coat of arms in swamp ears

Web links

Commons : Orbs in Heraldry  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Ball (Heraldry) in the Heraldry Wiki