On 9 Jun 2004 19:31:19 -0700, [email protected] (Dr) wrote: >Hi the Crook Finder, >What has my questuion on venetian or/and dalmatian heraldic >regulations to do with bookelt shops? >Regulations are just that. thay are not arms. >Rgds. Hi Dr, Call it guilt by association for lack of a better term. Any time your around a place where folks usually talk pure genealogy and words like coat of arms, family crest or even words like venetian or/and dalmatian heraldic regulations creep into the conversation the crooks are sure to follow. Case in point number 1. In her recent post here, Carole Allen tells of doing a google search for "dalmatian coat of arms". While she got many hits, many of them were just links to T shirts and cofee mugs for sale with your coat of arms on it. Foul, you cry. The lady actually searched for the dirty words, coat of arms. Well your sort of correct, but look at case in point number 2. I myself, this very night, placed your words, "venitian dalmatian heraldic rules" into the google search engine. All kidding aside, you may want to do this if you have not because much of the information that comes up is probably just what you are looking for. In the midst of all this information, this site appeared: "About Croatian Symbols"Here's the URL for it. http://miyeonjan.tripod.com/croatia_flags_e01.html Right up at the very top of the home page are three advertisements. 1. Coat of arms. Find your family crest, the coat of arms store. 2. Design your own. 4600 color wmf (Vector) clipart. Everything you need. 3. Your coat of arms. Family histories and coat of arms. Large variety of gifts. shop on line. This is blatant crookery! It has to make you wonder about the efficacy of the whole site if they have to resort to using that type of ads when there are plenty of places they could have put their site for free. You would probably be right if you said it was the word heraldic that brought the crooks out of the woodwork, but that's my point. It don't take much, and the really amazing thing is how many innocent people fall for their line of baloney. Frankly I don't see it. Unless all possible avenues of research are closed, what's wrong with good old fasioned detective work in a town's civil records or the town's church records. Many of which are now available on microfilm and can be researched in neighborhood Family History Libraries all over the U.S. and many other countries. How many ancestors and how much family history can you learn by finding out that 5th great grandfather, Guido on ma ma's side had arms which featured a featherless chicken on a treadmill with an Uzi slung over his shoulder? I've found nearly1600 ancestors back 12 generations The other way. One or two of them may have shined Napoleon's boots or spread manure on his tomatoes, but why would anyone care about that? Freddie