coat of arms lion 3D print model

The main distinguishing feature of the coat of arms from emblems and other pictorial identification marks is the compilation and use of it according to the rules of heraldry. However, in a number of branches of knowledge and practice in the 19th-20th centuries, identification marks began to be called “coats of arms”, based not on the characteristics of their composition and application, but on the basis of the circle of belonging (that is, the identification marks of certain owners are called “coats of arms”, without taking into account the methods compilation and use of these marks).

In Russian archeology, from the middle of the 20th century to the present, identification marks of princes and other owners are called coats of arms, regardless of whether these marks correspond to the rules of heraldry.

In the Russian military environment of the 19th - early 20th centuries, “coats of arms” were metal identification compositions (armatures) placed on ceremonial headdresses (shakos, grenadier hats, helmets) and ammunition of a military uniform, since they sometimes depicted the coat of arms of the Russian Empire or stylized eagle of the War Office.

In the Russian sphere of education of the late 19th - early 20th century, coats of arms were metal identification marks of educational institutions placed on headgear (caps, hats) of uniforms of students in gymnasiums, real schools, institutes, universities and other institutions of secondary and higher education (occasionally coats of arms were also called images on the buckles of students' uniform belts).

In international practice, “coats of arms” since the middle of the 20th century have been called identification marks of states (state emblems), regardless of their compliance with the rules of heraldry (although there are variations depending on the national heraldic and linguistic culture of a particular country: for example, state symbols Italy and France, due to their inconsistency with the rules of heraldry, are officially referred to in these countries not as coats of arms, but as “state emblems”; the symbol of the United States of America that does not meet the rules of heraldry is officially referred to not as a coat of arms, but as the “Great Seal of the United States”).