Treasure Chest Thurday - The Family Crest

Years ago, when I was quite young, my mother decided she wanted to purchase a family history on the Beane family. She found an advertisement in a magazine for a "comprehensive" history on the surname, which was "guaranteed" to have your name in it. [You know those books, right? The cheaply printed volumes that they hastily insert your name into in an index in the back of the book? These were pretty popular scams in the 1960's and '70's.]

She also purchased a print of the "family coat of arms". And when they came out with them, etched goblets with the crest.

With a name like "Beane", you would think someone would do a better job than what they did... but here's what the goblets looked like...

These goblets featured a "knights helmet" at the top, which was supposed to represent the fact that the Beane family had been knighted "in the old English days". The crest beneath showed three very large, distinctive kidney beans. These beans were supposed to represent three brothers named Beane who first appeared on American shore.

Well, of course, anyone who could do even the tiniest smidgen of research, even in those pre-computerized days, didn't find it hard to realize that this was all a bunch of hogwash and malarky.

I can imagine someone today, retired and living quite comfortably off of all the families names that were scammed over the 20 or so years they attempted to pull the wool over poor dupes eyes.

Even knowing it was all boloney, when Mother offered me one of the four original goblets she had purchased all those years ago, I accepted.

This goblet sits among my other crystal pieces in the cabinet in my dining room. And when visitors ask if that is my family crest, I simply smile and say...."Let me tell you the story about that goblet!"

By the way... here is the real Bean family coat of arms.

via here

Note that there aren't any beans here!