While sources say the medal shows the arms of the four provinces, the only pictures I found online suggest otherwise:
jnestorius(talk) 23:58, 9 March 2018 (UTC)
- The source would appear to be Francis Joseph Bigger, whose 1912 article "The Arms and Flags of Ireland" rejects the received arms of both Connacht (in his [erroneous] view an ugly British imposition unknown in Connacht) and Leinster (because those conflict with the arms of Ireland — which he gives a green field, rejecting Saint Patrick's Blue as a "fake colour"). Thus Bigger co-opts the Galway and Dublin municipal arms, which he interprets as Gaelic.[1]
- Besides the Scott Medal, I have seen a few other scattered instances of Bigger's variant provincial arms:
- jnestorius(talk) 21:17, 31 December 2021 (UTC) [Saothar na hÉireann URL added jnestorius(talk) 10:34, 24 October 2025 (UTC)]
References
Bigger, Francis Joseph (1912). "The Arms and Flags of Ireland". Saothar na hÉireann. London: London Gaelic League.
- slightly abbreviated version in:— Bigger, Francis Joseph (16 April 1914). "The Arms and Flags of Ireland". New Zealand Tablet: 26 – via PapersPast.;
- original reprinted in:— Bigger, Francis Joseph (1927). Articles and Sketches: Biographical, Historical, Topographical. Dublin: Talbot Press. pp. 63–67.
"The Making of Beautiful Things". Minerva. Royal Dublin Society: 3. Winter 2020. Retrieved 17 December 2020 – via Issuu. Why the Dublin and Galway county arms supplanted the provincial emblems of Leinster and Connacht is a mystery at present.