The largest heraldry site on the net, with presently coats of arms on-line !

State : Baden-Württemberg
District (Kreis) : Göppingen
Additions : 1970s Reichenbach im Täle

Origin/meaning:
The arms show the white elephant from the arms of the Counts of Helferstein, who ruled the town until 1627. The oldest known seal is dates from 1551 and already shows the elephant above a star. The star is most likely a small symbol to distinguish the arms from other arms with the Helferstein elephant. Later seals showed a similar composition, except from 1904-1959. In these years the seals showed a walking elephant, and no star. In 1904 the State Archives proposed a walking elephant with a star as arms for the municipality. These arms were never adopted by the council, which, in 1954, had a stone made with rather different arms. These arms showed the elephant combined with the three chevrons from the Lords of Deggingen, the successors of the Counts of Helferstein. These arms were also never officially granted and finally in 1959 the council returned to the old composition. The arms were finally granted on June 30, 1959.

Literature : Gönner and Bardua, 1966

Home © Ralf Hartemink 1996, ->

See also my other sites Food-Info.net and Food Dictionary