Most Average Coat of Arms
As a project, I decided to try to make the “world’s most average coat of arms.” I looked at numerous coats of arms on the internet and discovered that:
1: the most commonly used color was red. In fact, the color red could be found in approximately 70% of all coats of arms (Blue, the second most common color occurred on about 40% of coats of arms and all other colors occurred less than 40% of the time)
2: The metals (white and yellow) are just about evenly matched in use, though yellow is used slightly more (the difference is less than 10%).
3: Roughly 60% of coats of arms have at least one ordinary and the most common ordinary was the bend, occurring on 20 - 25% of all coats of arms.
4: The majority of coats of arms had at least one charge other than an ordinary or sub-ordinary and the most common charge was the lion, occurring on about 20% of shields (the cross and the star were a close second and third).
5: The majority of coats of arms had an undivided field and more than half had a color for the field rather than a metal.
6: The average coat of arms had three design elements (ordinaries, charges, field divisions, sub-ordinaries).
7: The majority of coats of arms had their charges on the field as opposed to on the ordinary of sub ordinary.
8: More than half the coats of arms consisted of only a single color and a single metal.
The design I came up with for the most average coat of arms is as follows:
ARMS: Gules, a bend between two lions rampant Or.