Salt (heraldry)

Salt (in the sense of sodium chloride, table salt, table salt ) as a preservative, flavor enhancer and essential mineral, which had a high material value in large parts of Europe until the early modern era , found its way into heraldry in various forms of representation . The direct representation usually takes place as a common figure in the form of a stylized salt crystal.

Salt is usually symbolized by a square or several small squares, often also faceted, in the heraldic shield or field . This type of representation is derived from the typically cubic to octahedral shape of table salt crystals. The square, often called salt crystal in descriptions of the coat of arms , preferably stands on a corner. The color of the crystals extends over the heraldically possible color range. However, silver or gold is considered more noble. If there are several crystals in the coat of arms, the general heraldic rules apply, deviations must be mentioned in the coat of arms description. Another form can be found, for example, in the coat of arms of Plittersdorf (Rastatt) . In it, salt is represented by its alchemical symbol, a ring with a horizontal diameter bar.

Salt symbols are typical for the talking coats of arms of families, cities and communities with salt , salt or equivalent names. They are also typical of the coats of arms of cities and municipalities in regions that historically had a significant economic importance due to the operation of salt pans and which were therefore comparatively wealthy - often the names of these cities and municipalities also refer to the salt .

Salt is indirectly symbolized by tools and equipment of the salt boiling trade such as salt pans , salt hooks or graduation works (e.g. Bad Rothenfelde ) in the heraldic shield, but also by heraldic figures that represent the salt trade, such as salt vats and salt disks as well as ships with a salt load (e.g. . Lauffen in the Salzkammergut or Oberndorf an der Salzach ).