Help with Motto/Arms or crest

[GfL]

Hi,
Can anyone help identify the family name of the attached?
I googled the motto so know what it says but I have no idea what the picture means or represents. Is it a family crest? Sorry don't  know the difference between coats of arms and family crests.
Thanks.

[KGarrad]

This from The College of Arms:

Q. What is a crest?

A. It is a popular misconception that the word 'crest' describes a whole coat of arms or any heraldic device. It does not. A crest is a specific part of a full achievement of arms: the three-dimensional object placed on top of the helm.

And a quick reference to all the parts of a Coat-of-Arms:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coat_of_arms

[HistoricalGenealogy]

Hello there,

This is my analysis of the Family Crest:

Family Motto

Motto: CÆLUM NON ANIMUM

This is Latin and translates to

“The sky, not the spirit”

...or more fully:

“They change their sky, not their soul.”

It's a phrase from the Roman poet Horace, and it generally means that although people may change their surroundings (such as emigrating or traveling), their true character or spirit remains the same.

Symbolic Images

A belt and buckle is part of the design, which is a common symbol for Scottish clan badges.

Inside the circle, there’s a hand holding a sprouting branch, which is also a heraldic symbol.


Based on this information, we can identify this not as a family crest, but rather a clan badge, and pinpoint this to Clan Stevenson. If you look up the family motto on Google, you get only very few results.

Here is one of them:
https://crestbadges.com/clan_crests/stevenson.php

Hope this helped.

[MollyC]

Crests normally sit on a wreath, which is shown here.  It consists of six twists of alternately coloured fabric.  Crests do not exist without the shield of arms they belong to, but generally may be used alone as a kind of badge.

An "achievement of arms" may include a motto and also a separate badge.  In this case the crest has been placed within the belt and buckle design with motto, to form a badge.

[Bookbox]

I have no idea what the picture means or represents.

It’s a hand holding an oak branch. You might want to consider RHODES of Bellair and Shapwick, Devon.
See Fairbairn’s Crests
https://archive.org/details/fairbairnsbookof01fair/page/470/mode/2up?q=rhodes

[HistoricalGenealogy]

It’s a hand holding an oak branch. You might want to consider RHODES of Bellair and Shapwick, Devon.
See Fairbairn’s Crests
https://archive.org/details/fairbairnsbookof01fair/page/470/mode/2up?q=rhodes

No, I would suspect it is a Scottish clan crest. If you take a look at the picture, you will realize that there is no knight within the “family crest.” This is because it is not a family crest. Instead of being organized as a typical family crest, it is organized as a typical Scottish coat of arms. This can be proven by the belt encircling the motto and hand.

[KGarrad]

It is not a Coat-of-Arms, or an achievement.
More likely a crest (for engraving on the family silver) or a badge.
Scottish Clan badge is a possibility, but other people use a belt - like the Royal Family?
Members of The Order of the Garter, for example, have a garter, or belt, in their coat-of-arms; motto Honi soit qui mal  y pense.

[HistoricalGenealogy]

It’s a hand holding an oak branch. You might want to consider RHODES of Bellair and Shapwick, Devon.

My bad, did not read your attachment properly. This is most likely the correct family crest as everything aligns. Unfortunately, the OP does not give us any context to where this appears. I suspect it is a official signet.

[GfL]

Hi,
Thank you all for your help and explanations.
It gives even more to look into whilst researching the tree