Reconstruction of Iacob Heraclid's small coat of arms, ca. 1563. tinctures and elements based on description in the 1555 imperial diploma, translated and published in Cătălin Pungă, "'Planul dacic' al lui Ioan Iacob Heraclid Despot (1561–1563)", in Ioan Neculce. Buletinul Muzeului de Istorie a Moldovei, Vol. XIX, 2013. The description largely omits 3rd quarter tinctures, which are mostly hypothetical and assumed to be based on heraldic symmetry (with lion proper, by analogy with fish and laurel tree being described as proper). The two-headed eagle is assumed to be Reichsadler, and depicted as such here, but may in theory also be the double-headed Byzantine eagle -- both appear on Heraclid's larger coats of arms. The charges are designed in accordance with coinage issued by Heraclid, and rendered, for instance in Enciclopedia României, 1938 edition. This includes a rearrangement of the fish and tree, which contradicts diploma; and the addition of inescutcheon with the arms of Moldavia, presumed azure an or (a recurring arrangement in the 16th century). While most of the symbolism remains mysterious, historian Andrei Pippidi suggests that the fish and ring stand for Polycrates of Samos, claimed by Heraclid as his ancestor ("Două portrete românești în Malta", in Studii și Materiale de Istorie Medie, Vol. XVIII, 2000).
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Dahn