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[Per pale, a pale compony counterchanged] The use of a compony ordinary that shares a tincture with its field has been disallowed since at least the LoAR of July 85; the precedent was confirmed Sept 87, April 89, and Aug 90. This submission is an excellent illustration of the reason for the ban: the visual appearance is not of a pale, but of a group of billets straddling the field division. The lack of identifiability is sufficient reason for return. We suggest making the pale a solid tincture. (Darius of Jaxartes, August, 1993, pg. 20)
[Checky Or and gules, a <beast> maintaining a <charge> Or] The Or <charge> has insufficient contrast against the (partially) Or field. While maintained charges aren't as strictly bound by the Rule of Contrast as other charges, they still can't share a tincture with the field (v. Phillippa MacCallum, Sept 88). [See also Luke of Caerleon, November 1992 LoAR, pg. 16 and Eleri Langdoun, March 1993 LoAR, pg. 23] (Tanarian Brenaur ferch Owain fab Bran, October, 1992, pg. 33)
[A brock's head cabossed vert marked sable] The markings on the badger are considered artistic license, worth no difference: for conflict purposes, the head is mostly vert. The markings aren't considered a violation of the Rule of Contrast, any more than A brock's head per pale vert and sable would break contrast. (Brocc of the Isles, May, 1993, pg. 6)
[On a <charge> argent, three infants swaddled azure, heads proper] The infants' bodies are swaddled in blue, with only their heads showing. The charge is often found in medieval armory; and the contrast in this case is acceptable. (Michaela Nuernberger, June, 1993, pg. 4)
[Party of six pieces gules and Or, three <charges> Or and a chief sable] The addition of the chief removes the conflict from the previous return. However, there's now a lack of contrast between the sable chief and the field. The field is equally gules and Or, and technically neutral with respect to contrast --- for charges that are equally supported by the gules and Or traits. A centrally placed sable charge, or a sable bordure, would have sufficient contrast; but a sable chief might not. (The problem is not unique to this field division: Per bend gules and Or is a neutral field, but Per bend gules and Or, a chief sable still suffers a lack of contrast.)
In this case, the chief's contrast is exactly the same as with a hypothetical Gules, a pale Or and a chief sable. We would return the latter, were it submitted; we must likewise return this. The client might consider counterchanging the tinctures of the field, or using a bordure. (Geoffrey Peal (Laeghaire ua'Laverty), June, 1993, pg. 18)
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[A tree trunk couped azure, its top bound by a chain sable] The sable chain has insufficient contrast on the azure trunk. While artistic details are not as strictly bound by the Rule of Tincture as are primary charges, this submission still does not permit ready identification of all its charges. (Dofinn-Hallr Morrisson, August, 1993, pg. 18)
Cornucopiae, by definition, are horns of plenty; an empty cornucopia is an oxymoron. (Giovanna di Piacensa, August, 1992, pg. 20)
Cotises should not be as wide as the ordinary they surround; their visual weight, as secondaries, should be much less than the primary's. (Gareth of Wyke, July, 1992, pg. 12)
Cotises follow the line of their central ordinary by default; thus a bend wavy cotised will have wavy cotises, parallel to the wavy bend (Custodia de Montemor, September, 1992, pg. 30)
[Gules, on a bend sinister cotised Or, a fox sable] Against [Gules, on a bend sinister cotised argent, a fox gules,] there's a CD for the tincture of the bend, and (since they're considered a group of secondary charges) another for the tincture of the cotises [device returned for differenct conflict]. (Louisa Reynell, January, 1993, pg. 34)
[Knots of four loops and four tassels vs. cotton hanks] After looking at the examples of cotton hanks in Parker and Elvin, I've decided there is a CD between them and [the submitter's] knots of four loops and four tassels: even assuming the hanks were drawn with their loops slightly separate, Rowan's knots could be considered equivalent to "demi-hanks". (Rowan O Curry, August, 1993, pg. 4)
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