House mark
![German house mark on a house front from 1572 with variation of the shape double hook.](/Images/godic/202502/04/Glockengießer26Hausmarke4507.jpg")
![Some municipal coats of arms of Germany involve house marks, in this example the arms of Hiddensee, which show a house mark per pale alongside a sea-horse.](/Images/godic/202502/04/Wappen_Hiddensee.svg4507.png")
![Examples of Polish house marks with variations of the basic forms of cross, arrow, and a double hook.](/Images/godic/202502/04/Merki_Łeba.svg4507.png")
![Estonian house marks from the island of Saaremaa.](/Images/godic/202502/04/Saaremaa_peremärgid4508.png")
House mark is originally a mark of property, later also used as a family or clan emblem, incised on the facade of a building, on animals, in signet and similar in the farmer and burgher culture of Germany and Scandinavia.
The tradition originates with the mason's marks used in the Middle Ages.