posted
It's amazing how that logo seems to be the "in" thing right now. I see people wearing those shirts all over the place now. Funny thing is that none of them own a chopper.
-------------------- Bruce Evans Crown Graphics Chino, CA graphics@westcoach.net Posts: 913 | From: Chino, CA | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
I read up on it when someone 'accused' me of copying his logo on one of my T-shirts. I was copying a logo on an old MoonEyes T-shirt I saw. Anyways, I researched it and found two different stories. 1) It came from firehouses back in the 1800's. If you check it out, they use a maltese cross on most logos for fire trucks. and 2) It came from a Celtic tribe back in the ...well a long time ago, like 1200's, 1300's...whatever.
Anyhow, it all comes down to 'there are no original ideas; just revised versions'...
posted
I dig Jesse James' work, the maltese cross is a strong, well designed shape, and I have no problem with the Nazi usage, they took it from someone else, but the squeezy type that they put in it plain ol sucks!, and it drives me crazy every time I see it. I have no problem if someone buys a shirt because it's the in thing, it's a testiment to the movement and Mr James' talent and hard work, I just wish the type was incorporated better into the design. Maybe one of us should redesign it for him and get some of that t-shirt and sticker money.. hmmmmm......
Rick
-------------------- Rick Chavez Hemet, CA Posts: 1540 | From: Hemet,CA U.S.A. | Registered: Jun 2001
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Is it true that on Rodeo Dr. there is a "Von Dutch Originals" store??? that makes me wanna puke. After seeing 2 famous Nazi death camps as a kid, we actually went inside the gas chambers, I have no need for that kind of symbolism. I've read about the swastika going way back before Hitler as well as many other symbols from the Nazi's. To use it nowa days is tasteless and a cruel reminder. The outlaw bikers used lots of nazi stuff like the SS bars and even german helmets, to me it means no class and no originality.... Jesse just bounced off retro imaging. All said Jesse is wise and enjoys the fruits of his labor.... nuthin wrong with that but it sure bugs me when some think he invented choppers.
We've got sheetmetal guys here that do the same thing, make the same money and have just as much fun without resorting to the mass marketing deal.
Ole Jimmy Shine is using the damn iron cross thing now geeeze move on!
-------------------- "No excuses!.... No regrets!..."
posted
At my Father's funeral a white linen cloth was drapped lenght wise on his casket. The cloth had Maltese crosses embroderied across the top of it. Looked exactly like the one that WWC uses but without the lettering. When I saw them, I thought of the WWC logo. It was a Catholic service.
-------------------- Signs by Alicia Jennings (Mudflap Girl) Tacoma, WA Since 1987 Have Lipstick, will travel. Posts: 3940 | From: Tacoma, WA. U.S.A. | Registered: Dec 1999
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posted
There's really nothing new anywhere in the world, is there. I think that Bauhaus really did design everything there could possibly ever be. Except may be an effective working bra for Pamela Anderson.
heh......................
k31
-------------------- Pierre St.Marie Stmariegraphics Kalispell,Mt www.stmariegraphics.com ------------------ Plan on knowing everything before I die and time's running out! Posts: 4223 | From: Kalispell,Mt 59903 | Registered: Mar 2000
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posted
Yea, The Malteese Cross goes way back... dawn of civilization & what not. The NAZIs didn't originate any of the symbolism they utilized. Swastika, eagles, crosses, stars in various configurations. They stole symbolism from practically every religion and culture.
Am I wrong or did the French actually NAME it the malteese cross?
-------------------- Glenn S. Harris
....back in the sign trade full time. Posts: 293 | From: Baton Rouge, LA, USA | Registered: Jul 2001
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posted
Well, aparently one of the earliest uses of an eight pointed cross was on the official seal of a convent in Jerusalem.... in like the 1500s or something.
-------------------- Glenn S. Harris
....back in the sign trade full time. Posts: 293 | From: Baton Rouge, LA, USA | Registered: Jul 2001
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"To some heraldic scholars, it represents a refined geometric expression of the cross formy, or croix pattée. To others, it is an evolution of the cross potent identified with the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Though its origins are still debated today, the beautiful geometric symbol that came to represent Christianity's oldest order of chivalry may have been an Arabic motif rooted in Muslim mysticism. As can be seen in this geometric construction, its angles and lines might represent a star as well as a cross. The design appears in Saracen and Moorish architecture throughout the Arab world, in structures that antedate by centuries the foundation of the Order of the Hospital. The symmetrical "Maltese Cross" is seen in ancient mosques in Jerusalem, Damascus and Baghdad. One of its earliest architectural uses in Europe was in Sicily, where it appears as a repeating motif in the splendid cloister courtyard of Monreale Abbey, built during the reign of a twelfth-century Norman King of Sicily, William II. (Henry II's daughter, Joan, wed the Sicilian sovereign in 1177, and the church's English legacy is represented in its mosaic icon of Thomas Becket.) The octagonal cross's appearance in the cloister is not surprising if one remembers that Monreale's artisans and architects were Saracen Arabs and Byzantine Greeks. By the thirteenth century, the Cross of Malta was a common heraldic symbol in England, France, Germany and Poland.
To the Knights of Malta, its four arms represent the cross on which Jesus suffered, while the eight points symbolise the Beatitudes given on the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:3-10)"
From the Order of Malta website.
-------------------- Glenn S. Harris
....back in the sign trade full time. Posts: 293 | From: Baton Rouge, LA, USA | Registered: Jul 2001
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posted
The cross is now nothing more than Pop Art.. it has no meaning these days other than it's the cool design of the month, and only the people that actually know the history or have a deeper cultural background that ties into the cross know what the real deal is.
It's the same thing with all today's bubble gum pop stars and heavy metal wanna-be's flashing that hand signal with the index and pinky finger pointing up into the air. It used to hold satanic meaning but somebody thought it was cool and now it's evolved into a meaningless hand gesture... Britany the Satanic?? Hmmmmm!!.... well she did admit she's not a virgin and she's started smoking so just maybe......
Anyway... why does anyone care? I see other companies using that cross in their logos now too.. it's just the "in" thing.. Hell, I've milked some profit off the stupid thing.
-------------------- "If I share all my wisdom I won't have any left for myself."
Mike Pipes stickerpimp.com Lake Havasu, AZ mike@stickerpimp.com Posts: 8746 | From: Lake Havasu, AZ USA | Registered: Jun 2000
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Being a bit of a heraldry buff I'm aware of the origin and usage (tainted or otherwise) of the Maltese Cross. I was enquiring about the WCC style in particular, i.e. "squishy" lettering across the horizontal and other text on the vertical.
As a secondary line of thought, many folks read the HD bar and crest logo as "Motor Harley-Davidson Cycles", do people read the the WCC logo as "West Choppers Coast" or "Choppers West Coast". If a person has not encountered the logo before, is it obvious to them as to the order in which the text should be read?
-------------------- Army Dave Oz Posts: 229 | From: Brisbane, Oz | Registered: Feb 2002
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