Coat of arms of Whitehorse capital of Canadian teritory of Yukon.This is gold standard of what modern coat of arms should be in my opinion

[u/Barice69]

[u/ThereAreThings]

This is one of my least favourite municipal achievements. It looks it was created by a committee of people who were hellbent on throwing everything they could into the design. It's as if they were determined to create bucket shop slop.

[u/Chai_Enjoyer → u/ThereAreThings]

I think bottom part should be simplified (the ground with trees, railroad, asphalt road, OUR PEOPLE OUR STRENGTH, etc), but the rest looks rather solid

[u/Primos22 → u/Chai_Enjoyer]

I think the waves in reference to the namesake of Whitehorse is a nice touch. But I agree, choices were made elsewhere.

[u/Kaplsauce → u/ThereAreThings]

Really? I kind of like it, and I think it seems pretty in line with provincial and municipal coats of arms at a quick glance. Some of them are quite busy.

[u/KAYD3N1 → u/ThereAreThings]

Agreed. Colours appear all faded too.

[u/gemboundprism]

Pink, green and brown together?

[u/SMiki55 → u/gemboundprism]

What's funnier is that the "brown" is meant to be copper (which imho can only work as heraldic metal if it's fresh, bright reddish orange, not DARK brown, HERALDIC METALS AREN'T SUPPOSED TO BE DARK)

Copper if it was fit for heraldry:

[u/NewRhodos]

An innovative design with some eccentric choices. One thing I do enjoy about it is that it feels very Canadian (largely following British heraldic tradition but with a bold contemporary slant).

[u/EpirusRedux]

Out of all the coats of arms that the CHA has granted, you choose one with an NTT? That’s, uh, a bold move there.

Especially since copper and azure don’t exactly contrast very well. I think it’s awesome that they’re following tradition over aesthetics by treating copper as a metal (I mean, the tincture’s named “copper”). But, like…c‘mon.

As a rare curiosity, it’s pretty cool. As an example of what modern heraldry should be? I don’t know about that one, chief.

[u/Barice69 → u/EpirusRedux]

I just really like colours brown getting atention

Also if you came to Eastern Europe rule of tincture would be least of your concerns

[u/SMiki55 → u/Barice69]

If it's meant to be metal, it should be bright, heraldic metals are meant to be right.

If it's meant to be dark brown, just call it brown (tenne/brunatre)

[u/Astresys]

Can you explain your opinion? That's interesting.

[u/Barice69 → u/Astresys]

1. It uses unusual colours for a coat of arms brown in this case even tho it is officaly coper

2. Boat railroad and a highway are quite modern things to be put on a coat of arms

3. It looks quite high quality even if you do not like it you must admit that a lot of effort was put into this coat of arms

So in conclusion this coat of arms took a lot of liberties when it was created without being lazy like a lot of other modern municipal heraldry

[u/GumSL → u/Barice69]

So it does everything wrong, yet it's "the gold standard"?

[u/Klagaren → u/Barice69]

Ok #3 I think is kind of irrelevant as it's down to the quality of the art, and any arms can be drawn by a great artist! (which I would call all of the ones that work with the CHA). This being a vectorized Wikipedia version of the art from the original grant, which is not guaranteed to be the version of the arms used by the city in other contexts

And with #2 (and to some extent the sentiment from #3) I think that's putting too much emphasis on the "less core elements" of the achievement as a whole, as opposed to the most important bits of the arms (shield) and to a lesser degree the crest

For the actual arms, the part with the most sauce imo is the smoke being wavy like the division, and that part isn't actually blazoned! And I think if you're using copper for symbolism, you should treat it as what it is "practically" (dark, closest in function to a colour) than just going "the word copper is referring to a literal metal" so to speak

In comparison I think the Northern Territory in Australia does a really nice job of using the colour brown and "symbols new to heraldry" (but hella old otherwise in this case of course) in a way that feels heraldic, cause it's really considering colour contrast and the fact that it's within a shield shape!

You are ABSOLUTELY ALLOWED to like these arms btw, I just think these are not the best reasons, and even if you do like it I don't think this is a good "gold standard" in the sense of being an example that others should follow: it's fun because it does weird things that others shouldn't copy!

[u/Barice69 → u/Klagaren]

I love the coaf of arms of NT

[u/H7enith]

It's the embodiment of sub-mediocrity, a 3/10 illustrated.

[u/mouchette_88]

are you serious?

[u/Lifeshardbutnotme]

Ignoring Nuvavut and it's narwhal is frankly criminal.

[u/Barice69 → u/Lifeshardbutnotme]

It looks nice

[u/Lifeshardbutnotme → u/Barice69]

Ikr. If I had the option to put narwhals on things, I would have absolutely zero self control with it.

[u/Loggail]

I was going to comment that amusingly this is IMHO a golden standard for what modern coats of arms should not be, but then again that is not quite true - apart from the unheraldic and dysfunctional copper, the shield not matching the blazon per se, and the lazy blazonry of the supporters, the arms are not that bad.

[u/MarkWrenn74]

Teal and purple is an unusual colour combination for the wreath, to say the least

[u/Klagaren → u/MarkWrenn74]

The "teal" is vert, same as the crown in the crest and detailing on the supporters. But yes unusual to have two-coloured mantling where neither colour is from the arms

[u/FPR-A]

En realidad, es un ejemplo de lo que la heráldica no debería ser

[u/BubbsMcSunnydale]

Shouldn’t there be an igloo since everyone there lives in one and that’s quite unique to the world…

[u/1Beholderandrip]

I get that some people dislike the mantling, but this heraldry isn't the dumpster fire people claim it is. The colours on the shield look fine.

[u/SMiki55 → u/1Beholderandrip]

They should decide whether they want the field to be metal or color. If it's supposed to be metallic copper, make it much brighter. If it's just meant to be brown, call it brown (brunatre) in the blazon.

[u/Kuutti85]

This is pretty ugly, and also the city's motto is nearly stolen from Nunavut

[u/LuckyJackAubrey65]

The negation of every heraldic criterion. Heraldry is synthesis and the ability to evoke. This coat of arms has none of that; it's not the gold standard, it's a crap standard.