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Or (heraldry)
 
 
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In heraldry
Heraldry

Heraldry is the profession, study, or art of devising, granting, and blazoning Coat of arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms....
, or (from the French
French language

French is a Romance language spoken around the world by around 80 million people as first language, by 190 million as second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired tongue, with significant speakers in 54 countries....
 word for gold) is the tincture
Tincture (heraldry)

In heraldry, tinctures are the colours used to blazon a coat of arms....
 of gold
Gold (color)

Gold, also called golden, is an orange -yellow color which is a representation of the color of the chemical element gold. Metallic gold, such as in paint, is often called goldtone or gold-tone....
, and belongs to the class of light tinctures, called "metals". In engraving
Engraving

Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface, by cutting grooves into it. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass engraving are engraved, or may provide an intaglio printing plate, of copper or another metal, for printing images on paper as prints or illustra...
s and line drawings, it may be represented using a pattern of dots. It is very frequently depicted as yellow
Yellow

Yellow is the color evoked by light that stimulates both the L and M cone cells of the retina about equally, but does not significantly stimulate the S cone cells; that is, light with much red and green but not very much blue....
, though gold leaf was used in many illuminated manuscript
Illuminated manuscript

An illuminated manuscript is a manuscript in which the Writing is supplemented by the addition of decoration, such as decorated initials, borders and Miniature ....
s and more extravagant rolls of arms.

The word gold is occasionally used in place of Or in blazon
Blazon

In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of, most often, a coat of arms or flag, which enables a person to construct or reconstruct the appropriate image....
, sometimes to prevent repetition of the word Or in a blazon, or because this substitution was in fashion when the blazon was first written down, or is preferred by the officer of arms
Officer of arms

An officer of arms is a person appointed by a Sovereignty or state with authority to perform one or more of the following functions:*to control and initiate Armory matters...
.

Or is frequently spelt with a capital letter (e.g.






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Heraldic Shield Or
In heraldry
Heraldry

Heraldry is the profession, study, or art of devising, granting, and blazoning Coat of arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms....
, or (from the French
French language

French is a Romance language spoken around the world by around 80 million people as first language, by 190 million as second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired tongue, with significant speakers in 54 countries....
 word for gold) is the tincture
Tincture (heraldry)

In heraldry, tinctures are the colours used to blazon a coat of arms....
 of gold
Gold (color)

Gold, also called golden, is an orange -yellow color which is a representation of the color of the chemical element gold. Metallic gold, such as in paint, is often called goldtone or gold-tone....
, and belongs to the class of light tinctures, called "metals". In engraving
Engraving

Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface, by cutting grooves into it. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass engraving are engraved, or may provide an intaglio printing plate, of copper or another metal, for printing images on paper as prints or illustra...
s and line drawings, it may be represented using a pattern of dots. It is very frequently depicted as yellow
Yellow

Yellow is the color evoked by light that stimulates both the L and M cone cells of the retina about equally, but does not significantly stimulate the S cone cells; that is, light with much red and green but not very much blue....
, though gold leaf was used in many illuminated manuscript
Illuminated manuscript

An illuminated manuscript is a manuscript in which the Writing is supplemented by the addition of decoration, such as decorated initials, borders and Miniature ....
s and more extravagant rolls of arms.

The word gold is occasionally used in place of Or in blazon
Blazon

In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of, most often, a coat of arms or flag, which enables a person to construct or reconstruct the appropriate image....
, sometimes to prevent repetition of the word Or in a blazon, or because this substitution was in fashion when the blazon was first written down, or is preferred by the officer of arms
Officer of arms

An officer of arms is a person appointed by a Sovereignty or state with authority to perform one or more of the following functions:*to control and initiate Armory matters...
.

Or is frequently spelt with a capital letter (e.g. Gules, a fess Or) so as not to confuse it with the conjunction
Grammatical conjunction

In grammar, a conjunction is a part of speech that connects two words, phrases or clauses together. This definition may overlap with that of other parts of speech, so what constitutes a "conjunction" should be defined for each language....
 or.

Or is said to represent the following:

  • Of jewels, the topaz
    Topaz

    Topaz is a silicate mineral of aluminium and fluorine with the chemical formula aluminium2siliconoxygen42. Topaz crystallizes in the orthorhombic system and its crystals are mostly prismatic terminated by pyramidal and other faces, the basal pinacoid often being present....
  • Of heavenly bodies, the Sun
    Sun

    The Sun , a G V star, is the star at the center of the Solar System. The Earth and other matter orbit the Sun, which by itself accounts for about 98.6% of the Solar System's mass....
  • Of metals, gold
    Gold

    Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and atomic number 79. It is a highly sought-after precious metal, having been used as money, as a store of value, in jewelry, in sculpture, and for ornamentation since the beginning of recorded history....
  • Of virtues, courage and honor

See also

  • Gold (color)
    Gold (color)

    Gold, also called golden, is an orange -yellow color which is a representation of the color of the chemical element gold. Metallic gold, such as in paint, is often called goldtone or gold-tone....
  • Old Gold
    Old Gold

    Old Gold is a dark yellow, which varies from light olive or olive brown to deep or strong yellow. The widely-accepted color "Old Gold" is on the darker rather than the lighter side of this range....