 The two charges, the wheel and the anchor, are drawn from arms once borne by the local lords, the Falkensteins and the Hohenfelses

The Lords of Bolanden stood as Imperial ministeriales in the service of the ecclesiastical Electorate of Mainz, whose coat of arms bore a silver wheel on a red field.As Mainz vassals, they used the same arms, but in different tinctures, with a red wheel on a gold field.Their successors, the Falkensteins and the Hohenfelses, originally bore the Bolanden wheel in their arms, but in different tinctures once again, namely a silver wheel on a blue field.