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Can you get away with stealing a coat of arms? Isn’t that why they call a coat of arms a family crest?

Is it bad etiquette that Donald Trump uses another family’s coat-of-arms or crest without ever having asked the family’s permission?

At the Trump National Gold Club outside Washington, DC, which hosted the Senior P.G.A. Championships this past weekend, most of the jokes were about the different nefarious Trump coats of arms and newly acquired family crest.

Either the crest Trump stole or the one he plagiarized or made up appear everywhere on the Trump organization properties: on all signage for his real estate, inside Trump’s private helicopter and jet, and homes.

Including pro shops and exercise gyms.

On everything from throw pillows, cufflinks and clothing, to golf balls, golf clubs, and body lotions, as well as all promotional material.

According to The New York Times, the coat of arms Mr. Trump first tried to use was originally granted to Joseph Edward Davies in1939, says Joseph D.Tydings, a former senator from Maryland, who is the grandson of the owner of the coat of arms.

Mr. Trump uses it in the US without permission from the family, which Tydings witnessed while visiting Mar-a-Lago, his former family home.

The family was told that Mr. Trump’s lawyers would keep them in court for decades draining their finances for generations.

The only adjustment made was switching the motto from the latin word for Integrity, ‘Integritas,’ to the name ‘Trump.’

However, for his two golf properties in Scotland, Mr. Trump plagiarized the coat of arms he covets, but added a two-headed eagle.

–GP, Washington, D.C.

In 2012 after a gladiatorial legal battle over whether Mr. Trump could use someone eles’ Scottish coat of arms as his family crest, he eventually won the right to use it. I agree, why would you use another family’s crest as your own?

• The fact is that it is a criminal offense under the ancient Scottish law to use an authorized crest, but Mr. Trump was relentless and wore down the authorities.
• By adding the double-sided eagle representing the dual nature and nationality of Trump’s heritage, American and German, he adapted a crest he admired.
• Also the eagles are clutching golf balls, making reference to the game of golf, and the Trump motto was added in Latin: “Numquam Concedere” for “Never Give Up.”

The coat of arms on the left is the original family crest of Joseph Edward Davies, on the right is the Trump adaptation.

Comparison photo courtesy of The New York Times.

~Didi