Chest (Period)

A chest is a wooden box with a hinged lid, often banded in metal and locked, used for the storage of valuables.  Mundane heralds blazon it a “coffer” or “coffer box”; one Society armory blazons it a “casket”.  It’s a period charge, found in the arms of William Cope (d.1513), cofferer to Henry VII [DBA2 215].  The chest’s lid is closed by default; in Society armory, it’s typically depicted affronty, but period examples (e.g. Bossewell, 1572 [III.16]) show it slightly in trian aspect, as in the illustration.

In Italian armory, there is also the cassa, “strongbox”, drawn as an unadorned rectangular metal box in trian aspect; it’s found in the canting arms of da Cassan, mid-15^th C. [Triv 121].  For related charges, see Ark of the Covenant, coffin.

The Keeper of the Regalia for the Prince of the Sun bears:  Azure, on a chest argent a fireball sable enflamed proper.

Oriana of Xylina bears:  Gules, a blonde mermaid proper crowned with a pearled coronet Or maintaining a wooden casket proper and a mirror argent, a chief wavy Or fretty sable.