Rampant Colt symbolism

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angeldeville

New member
I had been wondering what the significance of the Rampant Colt symbol, and a call the Colt's archive department yielded the answer...

The Colt is on the Colt family crest, and the story is as follows...

A Knight was unhorsed and his mount realized this and went back to protect his rider as he was about to be run through with a spear.

The horse caught the spear between his front legs and broke it in half, The broken part of the spear is pictured in the horses mouth....

Colt_logo.jpg
 
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T. O'Heir

New member
"...the Colt family crest..." Great story from their marketing guys. There's no such thing as a 'family' crest. Heraldic devices belonged to individuals, not the whole family. Of course, Samuel Colt didn't invent the revolver either.
A 'rampant horse' is a normal heraldic device.
 
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JBriggs

New member
I have to dispute the assertion that a crest can not belong to a family. My family has had a crest since the 1050 and all of us use it, but some branches make minor additions so as to make distinctions.
 
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Tom2

New member
I would have speculated that it symbolized the "Colt" destroying or making obsolete the old world weapons, like the spear, the arrow, the sword, etc. That was a wild guess. Don't know about his heraldry.
 
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Perldog007

New member
Like the dude's name was Col. Colt, and um, you know, colt is also like a baby horse so they did the rampant colt thing as a brilliant marketing strategy so that other dudes would not like, um, associate the products with little baby horses.

That's my story and I am sticking to it. YMMV :D
 
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RJay

New member
The Colt family never had a coat of arms, on either side of the family :eek:. The horse is just that a horse ( or Colt ), His name was Colt, hence a Rampant Colt. A nice little read is the History of Colt Firearms by Dean Boorman. I can't believe the Colt factory really put that garbage out. Old Sam Colt was just a common, but very intelligent, man with delusions of grandeur.:eek:
 
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rwilson452

New member
I don't know who invented the revolver. I know S&W held the patent on the bored through cylinder for metallic cartridge. Colt couldn't introduce a metallic cartridge revolver until the patent expired.
 
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nate45

New member
Of course, Samuel Colt didn't invent the revolver either.
Click to expand...
:rolleyes:

Samuel Colt invented the first revolver, a gun named after its inventor "Colt", and after its revolving cylinder "revolver". In 1836, Samuel Colt was granted a U.S. patent for the Colt revolver, which was equipped with a revolving cylinder containing five or six bullets and an innovative cocking device.

Before the Colt revolver only one and two-barrel flintlock pistols had been invented for hand held use. Colt revolvers were all based on cap-and-ball technology until the Smith and Wesson license on the bored-through cylinder (bought from Rollin White) expired around 1869.

'God created man, Samuel Colt made them equal'
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Maddock

New member
Elisha Collier patented a flintlock revolver in Britain in 1818, produced in limited quantities by the traditional fabrication methods. Others had developed and produced "Pepperboxes". Colt developed tying the rotation and locking of the cylinder to cocking the hammer rather than as a separate operation as in the Collier, and had a revolving cylinder with a fixed barrel rather than a revolving cluster of barrels as in the Pepperbox. He also pioneered the mass production of his revolvers, with tremendous social and economic consequences.
CollierPair.jpg

Collier.jpg

AllenAndThurberPepperbox.jpg
 
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support_six

New member
...or Samuel Schwartzkopf (German translation to "Black Head")

Actually, it is true that heraldric symbols are bestowed on an individual, not a family. Legal children of one who holds, or held) the right to "bear" an armorial design can also bear it but it is usually with an added symbol indicating they are a son or grandson, etc. I spent the first 45 years of my life believing my family had a coat of arms, then I did my family history and found there were four (4) coats of arms bestowed on Brits with the surname of "Woodbury". If I want to "bear" one of those coats of arms, I have to prove through geneology that I am related to one of them.

You can go to a store, or go on line and some vendor will sell you a coat of arms that is associated with the surname you have (I have one too), but it doesn't mean it belongs to you or anyone in your family. Only geneology can prove that. Google "heraldry" sometime and read a bit.
 
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Jart

New member
That horse looks a little nekkid for one that was carrying a knight - looks like it lost all its barding along with the rider.

DiagramArmourEquestrian.jpg


Nice story though.
 
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T. O'Heir

New member
"...want to "bear" one of those coats of arms, I have to prove through geneology that I am related to one of them..." Being related doesn't give you armorial rights. Armorial devices(a coats of arms) belong to individuals only. Sons can wear daddy's arms with a mark of cadency. The mark of cadency on daddy's arms indicates what number son you are, up to number nine.
A crest is not a 'coat of arms'. It's a Victorian thing that has no basis in history. This is what the "find you family's coat of arms" sites are selling. Not everybody had 'arms' either. They had to be granted.
In 1050, there was no heraldry. Heraldry came about after helms covered the whole face.
 
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Tyler Thomas Colt

New member
Well I don't know where you guys are getting your information, but I am directly related to Samuel Colt. By Blood.

Yes we have a family crest.

And if you think Samuel Colt did not invent the revolver, well then I think you just might be insane... ;)
 
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Tyler Thomas Colt

New member
Congratulations on your new crest! :D

The last name Colt way the heck back, how far back my family has yet to determine but my father and I are planning on attacking out family tree in about a month or so.

As of now we understand it to be of Pictish origin, which is around Northern Scotland.
 
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