Spiked mace (Period); flanged mace (Period)
Morningstar (Accepted); civic mace (Accepted)
A mace is a heavy club-like weapon; the metal head is often spiked, knobbed, flanged or otherwise shaped to best penetrate armor. In heraldry, if a specific shape of head is desired, it must be blazoned: e.g., the “spiked mace”, or the “flanged mace”. The spiked mace seems the more common form in heraldry; in German armory, it dates to c.1340, in the arms of Wurmlingen [Zurich 439]. The flanged mace is found in the arms of di Veccii, mid-15th C. [Triv 362].
The mace was also a symbol of secular authority in mundane heraldry. In this form, it is termed a “civic mace”, and is so highly decorative as to be unsuitable as a weapon.
Similar to the mace is the “morningstar” or “morgenstern”, which has a spiked mace’s head attached by a chain to a handle. None of these variants carry any heraldic difference. For related charges, see flail, hammer, staff.
The Constable of the West bears: Azure, a flanged mace Or.
Heather MacTeague bears: Quarterly sable and gules, four maces argent.
Regina Gunnvor Morningstar bears: Argent ermined gules, a morningstar bendwise sinister within a bordure sable.