a title of nobility and confirmed by an improvement in the coat of arms in 1554 . The Henfenfeld main line of the sex died out with the Reichsschultheissen Johann Sigmund Pfinzing von Henfenfeld (1712–1764). Heirs were the Hallers von Hallerstein . Branch lines of the family were: the Nuremberg Line († 1598), the Pfinzing von Weigelshof († 1617) and the Pfinzing von Gründlach († 1739) Coat of arms The coat of arms, originally from the Nuremberg Geuschmid family, around 1300 (formal imperial approval for this in 1465) and since then carried by the Pfinzing, shows a shield divided into gold over black. On the helmet with black and gold covers two buffalo horns marked like the shield. The original coat of arms of the Pfinzing family, however, is said to have been divided by gold and red, with a black eagle above and a silver ring below. Fritz Pfinzing, (* around 1276; † between 1327/1331) in Nuremberg, mentioned 1303–1327, was a jury nurse of the infirmary near St. Johann. He was married to Elsbet Geuschmid(* around 1280/1285), the daughter of Berthold Geuschmid (* around 1255/1260; † 1331), mentioned in Nuremberg in 1290. Fritz Pfinzing's father-in-law Berthold Geuschmid was again the son of a Pfinzing, from Elisabeth (* around 1245). Fritz Pfinzing finally dropped the old Pfinzing family coat of arms (around 1300) and adopted the Geuschmid coat of arms: "Gold and black divided". (Cf. Pfinzingsche Ahnentafel in: Der Pfinzing-Atlas von 1594, StsA Nürnberg 1994.) In the following centuries there was some ambiguity as to which the Pfinzing's actual family coat of arms was, so that in Siebmacher at the beginning of the 18th century The original coat of arms of the Pfinzing was wrongly ascribed to the Geuschmid. (See illustration.) Historical Coats of Arms (After improving the coat of arms in 1554) divided into four : Fields 1 and 4 divided by gold and black (allegedly once the coat of arms of the Geuschmid), 2 and 3 divided by gold and red, above a black eagle above, below a silver ring (allegedly originally the coat of arms of the Pfinzing), covered with a heart shield divided by gold, blue and silver († von Henfenfeld). See also German Nobility History of the city of Nuremberg List of castles, palaces and manors in Germany References Christoph von Imhoff (ed.): Berühmte Nürnberger aus neun Jahrhunderten. Nürnberg: Hofmann, 1984, 425 S., Frhr. Bertold