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STEMMACREST

Created today. Bonded forever.

A coat of arms is the sign your family gives itself today. It shows you belong together.

Our story

How it began for us

Our eldest had just left home, and our second child was turning eighteen. Our children were setting out on their own paths. So we wanted to give our family something to take along: a sign of our own, a sign of belonging together, wherever each of us may be.

That is how our coat of arms came about in 2018, and every part of it holds a piece of us. The ear of wheat carries our name, because de Buhr means "the farmer". The broad axe, the anchor and the waves stand for our bond with the sea. The five stars are the five of us, and Hamburg, our home. The red and silver come from there too. At the very top stands the tower, for shelter and safety. That is what we are for one another.

We designed our coat of arms as a couple and surprised our children with it. Your way can look just like that, or quite different. Children give their parents a coat of arms and show how close they feel to their parents' home. Or the whole family gathers around the dinner table and talks through which values and signs belong to them. Exactly as you like.

Your coat of arms begins with you. A few questions about what holds your family together, and your coat of arms takes shape.

The de Buhr family

How it is built

Every question shapes a part of the coat of arms. Point at a part and it lights up.

The crest

The helm

The mantling

The field

The charges

The number

How we work

Six steps, and nothing hidden between them.

  1. 01

    The interview

    A guided interview about your family, where it comes from, the work it is connected to and what it stands for. Take as long as you like: you can pause and come back.

  2. 02

    Your briefing

    Before we begin, we write back what we read out of your answers. Confirm it, correct it, or tell us in your own words what to change, so the coat of arms is built on what you actually meant.

  3. 03

    Three drafts, drawn to the rules of heraldry

    No later than two business days after your answer to the briefing: three finished coats of arms, checked against the historic coats of arms we hold. They carry our watermark until they are yours.

  4. 04

    Changes before you decide

    You choose the draft that belongs to your family and tell us in your own words what should be different. The revised version comes within two business days at the latest, up to three times at no extra charge. If it is ready sooner, we let you know. Then you decide. You pay only after that.

  5. 05

    Your package

    Only now do you decide in which edition your coat of arms comes to you: as a picture, with the letter of arms in your hands, or with the entry in our roll of arms. With your payment it is yours, without a watermark. The final files are ready for you as soon as you have finalised your coat of arms and bought your package.

  6. 06

    At home in the family

    In the hall or on the letterhead: the coat of arms shows you belong together. You pass it on and keep it for those who come after you.

Checked and approved.

Our heraldists check every coat of arms and sign it off.

Examples

What a coat of arms can look like.

Six coats of arms drawn the same way yours would be: answers first, then a correct blazon, then the painting. Each shield comes from one family’s own answers.

Learn more about the symbols of heraldry

A farming family, seven generations on the same land

Azure, a chevron argent between three garbs or; crest, a falcon rising or on a torse gules and argent.

The wheat sheaves stand for the land; the rising falcon for the son who left and came back.

A forester's family from the uplands

Vert, a fess or between two crescents argent in chief and an oak leaf argent in base; crest, a stag's head argent.

Two crescents for two surviving branches, the oak leaf for the woodland they still tend.

A house of builders and stonemasons

Sable, a tower or between three mullets argent; crest, two eagle wings sable.

The tower for the trade, three stars for three towns the family helped rebuild.

A harbour family, four generations at sea

Gules, an anchor argent, a chief or; crest, a pair of buffalo horns per fess gules and argent.

The anchor for the trade, the plain gold chief left open for the generations still to come.

A family of magistrates and town councillors

Or, a lion rampant azure armed and langued gules; crest, a demi-lion azure issuing from the torse.

One lion, undivided: the family never split its holdings between heirs.

A house of teachers and printers

Argent, a chevron sable between three open books sable; crest, an owl sable.

Three books for three schools founded, the owl for the work done after dark.

Prices

One coat of arms, three editions. The coat of arms first, then the choice.

€149

The Coat of Arms

Digital

Included

  • Three design directions
  • Three free changes before you buy, then two rounds until you confirm, further ones 5 € each
  • Blazon with a plain-language translation
  • All files
  • Checked and approved

Available on its own

  • Entry in the Roll of Arms€199
  • The Coat of Arms on Paper€199Available soon
  • Bound dossier€99Available soon
  • Engraving artwork€49
Recommended

€499

The Folio

Digital and on paper

Included

  • Everything in The Coat of Arms
  • Entry in the Roll of Arms
  • The Coat of Arms on Paper: folio with shield, coat of arms print on laid paper and letter of arms with embossed seal, signed by Thomas de Buhr
  • Blazon as a printed sheet of its own
  • Bound dossier
  • Engraving artwork
  • Three free changes before you buy, then 20 rounds until you confirm, further ones 5 € each
The finished piece may differ.Need it sooner? Write to us and we will see what we can do.

€999

The Case

In a wooden case

Included

  • Everything in The Folio
  • Wooden case
  • Seal stamp with sealing wax
  • Four marks of difference for family branches
  • Unlimited rounds until you confirm
  • Reply within 24 hours on business days
The finished piece may differ.Need it sooner? Write to us and we will see what we can do.

All prices include VAT.

After the three free changes, each further change before purchase costs €5; the amount is credited when you buy The Folio or The Case.

Recorded and dated

Entered in our own roll of arms.

The roll is ours, kept under its own name and run to the same rules for every coat of arms, including our own. When your coat of arms is finished you can have it entered: dated, numbered, and checked against the historic coats of arms we hold. The methodology page says what that check means.

Optional. Available for every commission.

Our conflict check is based on SENA, a published standard for armorial difference. How we check

In use

This is how we did it.

A coat of arms is made to be used. Ours hangs in the hall and stands on our letterhead. The document on heavy cotton paper, numbered and sealed, is part of the larger packages; everything else is what you make of your coat of arms once it is yours, and we are glad to point you to the people who make it.

A coat of arms does not belong in a drawer. We deliver it so it can hang where the family passes every day.

Letterhead with a blind-embossed coat of arms on a dark wooden desk beside a fountain pen
The letter of arms, blind-embossed and sealed.
The de Buhr coat of arms, framed in a dark hallway under a wall lamp, above a small wooden table
In our hall, framed: the coat of arms as it hangs at home.

Your coat of arms begins with you.