English Lion Symbols

The English lion as shields and banners carried it

The beast shown in the passant guardant attitude, that is walking with its head turned toward the viewer, has accompanied the rulers of England since the close of the twelfth century. Three of these animals on a red field settled as the core of the royal arms, and from there they traveled onto shields, caparisons, banners and the surcoats of a knight's retinue. The set carries that motif over into a size that a figure or an armored vehicle in a display case will bear.

Inside you will find 300 brass arms and symbols divided into twelve types, twenty-five pieces of each type. The individual kinds lie in separate compartments, so the small pieces do not tip out into one heap. The material is about 0.26 mm thick and the motifs themselves range in size between one and five millimeters.

Twelve types mean that the motif does not have to be repeated in a single form within one scene. Besides the walking beast, the size and the angle can be varied, which makes a row of shields in a formation look lively and not like one drawing traced through carbon paper. The small pieces can also do what a decal cannot: the edge of a rounded helmet or a narrow band of fittings on a sword scabbard.

Where such a device belongs

Most often on the side of armor, on the hilt and scabbard of a bladed weapon, on an inn sign above a tavern or on the cloth of a banner flying above a rampart. Brass holds its shape, will stand careful bending over a rounded surface and, once sprayed with primer, takes a shade just as readily as a plastic surface. The manufacturer advises reaching for cyanoacrylate glue and dosing it really sparingly, because an excess would flood the fine drawing and the motif would be lost under the drop.