#blazonry

Whitmore helpfully breaks the elements of an achievement into five separate components, which we’ll go through one by one. He seems to conflate “coat of arms” with “complete achievement,” though I can’t quite tell whether this is an error or an outdated usage. For the record, a coat of arms (or “arms” for short) is whatever’s depicted on the shield itself; the complete achievement includes the shield plus any additional ornamentations. 

Whitmore presents two examples, but notes that the shield “may be of any form.” While the shape on the left below is certainly the most common, it’s absolutely true that they can come in pretty much any shape. I don’t believe Whitmore’s assertion that lozenges are reserved for female armigers only is accurate; I’ve seen several sources that say women must bear their arms on a lozenge, but none that state the lozenge is therefore reserved only for women. I think it is probably a safe bet that if you see arms on a lozenge, they most likely belong to a woman, but I haven’t previously encountered “lozenge = woman” as a hard and fast rule, only the contrary. 

Sable, a chevron Or, a Coyote rampant proper, tongue forked Gules, in chief a crescent Or

On Her Majesty's Secret Service 1969

Tile with Griffin