[MR] Heraldic Word of the Day - Back to Basics

[Jim Looper]

Tincture. 
One of the seven standard hues used in Society armory, or a fur. The tinctures are the colors azure, gules, purpure, sable, and vert and the metals argent and Or. Furs include the ermined furs and vair, potent, scaly, papelonny, and their variations. See also Color, Ermined Tinctures, Fur, Metal. 


Color. 
In Society heraldry, the colors are azure, gules, sable, purpure and vert. The furs that use colors as underlying tinctures, such as counter-ermine and pean, are treated like colors for contrast. See also Metal, Tincture. 

Metal. 
In Society heraldry, the metals are argent and Or. Furs that use metals as underlying tinctures, such as ermine and erminois, are treated as metals for contrast. See also Color, Furs, Tinctures.


Furs. 
In Society heraldry, the furs include ermine, counter-ermine, erminois, pean, vair, potent, and their variants. The furs also include the variants of scaly and papellony which consist of solid-tinctured scales of two alternating tinctures. Furs composed equally of a metal and a color (e.g. vair) are considered neutral for contrast purposes. Furs that use a metal as the underlying tincture (e.g. ermine) are treated as metals for contrast. Furs that use a color as the underlying tincture (e.g. pean) are treated as colors for contrast purposes. See also Ermined Tinctures, Tincture. 


For visuals for all of the above, you can go to:

http://heraldry.sca.org/primer/tinctures.html

for some great images!

Sincerely,

Lucien