Potocki I

Potocki (Potocki Count I ) is a Polish count's coat of arms, a variant of the Pilawa coat of arms. The coat of arms of the Potocki family.

Historical description
Juliusz Ostrowski blazons the coat of arms as follows: "In the blue field - a half-three silver cross without the right lower arm. Above the helmet in the crown - five ostrich feathers. Blue robes lined with silver. - Juliusz Ostrowski, Księga herbowa rodów polskich"

Modern description
The description constructed contemporaneously reads as follows:

On a shield of blue field a silver half-cross.

Above the shield a count's crown.

In the jewel five ostrich feathers.

The crest mantling of blue, lined with silver.

Genesis
The coat of arms belongs to the Hetman line of the Potocki family of the Pilawa coat of arms. Belonging to this line, Alfred Potocki, founder of the Łańcut Ordinance in Galicia, received the title of Count in Austria in 1866. Franciszek Potocki, descended from the same line, received the title of Count in Russia from Tsar Nicholas I Romanov in 1824 (the ceremonial conferment of the title took place in 1838), but died without leaving a male descendant.

Herbalists
The information contained in the article on coats of arms is based on reliable sources, both classical and modern heraldry. However, it is worth noting that it is common to attribute incorrect coats of arms to noble families. This phenomenon intensified especially during the period of legitimisation of the nobility before Partition heraldry and continued in later heraldic publications. It should be borne in mind that the identity of a surname does not always imply belonging to a particular heraldic family. Only thorough genealogical research can unambiguously establish such affiliation.

Today, it is not possible to reconstruct complete lists of coats of arms, also due to the destruction and loss of many files and documents during World War II (e.g. during the Warsaw Uprising in 1944, over 90% of the holdings of the Central Archives in Warsaw, where most Old Polish documents were kept, were burnt down). The surname appearing in the article comes from the Herbarz polskiego, by Tadeusz Gajel. The occurrence of a given surname in an article does not necessarily mean that a particular family sealed with the Potocki coat of arms. Often the same surnames are owned by many families representing all states of the former Republic, i.e. peasants, burghers, nobility. The Potocki coat of arms is a personal coat of arms, so only one family is entitled to use it