The second oldest representation, which as been preserved, is the funeral escutcheon of the same Frederick and is still hanging in the Church of St. Sebald at Nuremberg.

The escutcheon is without any helmet, the sword inclined to the right, in a red field, the blade is silvery, the hilt black. In the lower right corner of the escutcheon there is a small picture of the coat of arms of his wife, Margaretha Strobel von Atzelberg. Surrounding inscription: "Anno dni MCCC und in dem XL Jar do starb Fritz Kress dem got genad der hat ein Stroblin gehabt', meaning: "In the thirteen hundred and fortieth (1340 AD) year died Fritz Kress, whom God may show grace; he had a Strobel as his wife."

The oldest seal with the sword coat of arms, which has come down to us, is that of Albrecht Kress of 1457, which shows the escutcheon and the helmet. It is in green wax.

The funeral escutcheons at St. Sebald's Church, Nuremberg, have been supplied with the helmet since 1406.

The patent of Imperial nobility of July 15, 1530 said that the family had already used this coat of arms for two hundred and fifty years at that time, which would confirm the time of its first known use, as explained heretofore.

The patent mentioned nothing but an improvement of coat of arms, as was usual at that time, in putting a jousting helmet in place of a full barred one and setting a golden crown and peacock's feathers on this helmet. As far as the latter is concerned, we must consider that a peacock's plumage was already on the funeral escutcheon of Cunz Kress who died in 1431. This would prove that the family used the peacock's plumage a hundred years before they received the patent of Imperial nobility. It would be in accordance with the medal of Christoph Kress which was probably made in 1526 and which showed four years before the patent the aforementioned peacock's plumage. 

This fact annuls at the same time von Eye's contention that the woodcut of the Kress coat of arms, which until 1860 was always attributed to Dürer, was not made by Dürer himself, but could only be of his school; because it already showed the improvement with peacock's feathers, which was not granted before 1530, that is two years after Dürer's death. For, as we have seen for the aforesaid, this ornament of the helmet was not only used by Kress during Dürer's life, but also before his time. The further objection which could possibly be raised, that it was the patent, which granted the open and crowned helmet, is not well-founded, for there cannot be any doubt that the Kresses had noblemen's qualities even at Dürer's time. But it was also the custom to picture coats of arms of the nobility with an open and crowned helmet without any special authorization, and artists particularly did not impose any restrictions upon themselves in that respect. The open helmet with the crown was simply more decorative, according to Dürer's idea, and he did not hesitate to use it. Thus it seems to me too that, with regard to the masterly execution of the cut, Dürer's authorship may be taken for granted. In any case, I hope to have annulled with my explanations the contra-arguments, which have appeared since 1860. Be this as it may, the cut of the escutcheon in question is a masterpiece, which has been given a place of honor here.

For picturesque reasons, for instance, in alliance coats of arms and the like, the sword was sometimes placed inclined to the left, which the correct position would be inclined to the right.  Little heraldic knowledge may have sometimes led the artist to represent the coat of arms with the sword inclined to the left. For instance, if the artist made the coat of arms after a description and not after a sketch and did not know that in heraldry right and left are always meant as from the bearer of the shield, that is, just contrary to the view of the spectator, such changes, of no account in themselves, may easily have happened.

Now we have to deal with the ornament of the helmet (the crest). It shows an issuant, red heathen without arms, who holds the sword horizontally in his mouth, with the boar's fangs. A tale for which, however, one cannot find any documentary proof in old scriptures, tells us that a Kress, when his arms had been cut off during a fight, seized his sword with his teeth to keep on fighting.

We saw from the preceding explanations that the Kress coat of arms with the sword can be traced to the time, when the bearing of permanent hereditary family coats of arms came first into usage. If we do not take into account those pictures in coats of arms, which were simply formed by heraldic figures, we can find that such old coats of arms are so called telling or allegorical ones, that is, that the picture in the coat of arms expresses some particular properties, occupation, possession, etc.

The sword was the most distinguished among a warrior's weapons and its successor, the rapier, the symbol of war-like spirit and chivalrousness to the present time. With the sword, the nobleman was dubbed knight; it was his faithful companion in war and peace, in battles and fights as well as in tournaments and tilts. The lances were carried by armiger behind the knight, but the sword was always at his side.

Thus, we are surely not wrong in concluding that the Kresses, who chose this symbol for their coat of arms were no cowards and sluggards, but that they were to be found as bold and cheerful warriors, wherever there was a case of wielding the sword.

Among the coats of arms of the old noble families, that of Kress is a favorable exception in so far as it is being borne nowadays in the same manner as it was more than seven hundred years ago, not considering the different forms of style. Those "improvements" of coats of arms, especially practiced at the timed when heraldry was deteriorating, but which a versed blazoner should rather call degenerations of coats of arms, that is, the frequent sub-dividing of the escutcheon and the introduction of new pictures in it, by which the family coat of arms was sometimes quite put into the background; those changes the Kress coat of arms missed entirely.

Examples of the Kress coat of arms