Ordinary vair in German heraldry is known as _Eisenhüt-feh_, or iron hat vair. On account of its similarity, when drawn, to the old iron hat of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries (see Fig. 42), this skin has received the name of _Eisenhutlein_ (little iron hat) from German heraldic students, a name which later gave rise to many incorrect interpretations. An old charter in the archives of the chapter-house of Lilienfield, in Lower Austria, under the seal (Fig. 43) of one Chimrad Pellifex, 1329, proves that at that time vair was so styled. The name of Pellifex (in {83} German _Wildwerker_, a worker in skins, or furrier) is expressed in a punning or canting form on the dexter side of the shield. This Conrad the Furrier was Burgomaster of Vienna 1340-43. A considerable number of British and foreign families bear _Vair_ only; such are FERRERS and GRESLEY, above mentioned; VARANO, Dukes de CAMERINO; VAIRE and VAIRIÈRE, in France; VERET, in Switzerland; GOUVIS, FRESNAY (Brittany); DE VERA in Spain; LOHEAC (Brittany); VARENCHON (Savoy); SOLDANIERI (Florence). _Counter vair_ is borne by LOFFREDO of Naples; by BOUCHAGE, DU PLESSIS ANGERS, and BROTIN, of France. HELLEMMES of Tournay uses: _de Contre vair, à lac otice de gueules brochante sur le tout_. [Illustration: FIG. 42.] [Illustration: FIG. 43.--Seal of Chimrad Pellifex, 1329.] Mr. Woodward, in his "Treatise on Heraldry," writes: "Two curious forms of Vair occasionally met with in Italian or French coats are known as _Plumeté_ and _Papelonné_. In _Plumeté_ the field is apparently covered with feathers. _Plumeté d'argent et d'azur_ is the coat of Ceba (note that these are the tinctures of _Vair_); SOLDONIERI of Udine, _Plumeté au natural_ (but the SOLDONIERI of Florence bore: _Vairé argent and sable_ with _a bordure chequy or and azure_); TENREMONDE of Brabant: _Plumeté or and sable_. In the arms of the SCALTENIGHI of Padua, the BENZONI of Milan, the GIOLFINI, CATANEI, and NUVOLONI of Verona, each feather of the _plumeté_ is said to be charged with an ermine spot sable.