Quote Originally Posted by MacMillan of Rathdown View Post
In this instance the metals are beside one another and the convention of not placing metal on metal (or colour on colour) is not contravened. This side-by side placement occurs frequently when arms are divided party per cross (that is quartered) or less frequently when divided per fess or per pale.



Bordures are used as the cadets come off the stem, and not in any particular particular generation (see Gayre, Heraldic Cadency pg. 140). When a situation arises that a bordure might be indistinguishable from the field (argent with a bordure argent) the bordure is represented as chequey (as in the arms of Innes of Edingight-- argent three mullets azure within a bordure chequey argent and azure).

Now, generally speaking, in the instance of your "?" shield the bordure would be per pale, gules (red) and chequey argent (white) and azure (blue), the argent and azure being derived from the principle metal and colour of the arms.

I hope that answers your question!

Scott
That does indeed. And thank you for clearing up how the bordures are used - I had assumed it was to mark specific generations.

Now, to muddy the waters a bit. Assuming these cadets are springing up in perfect order, what if another son was added to the final generation?

It seems the next colour to be used for a bordure is azure, but it has already been used by the elder brother. Does this mean that, when the parent arms have a bordure, that particular colour is skipped when impaling the bordures for any cadet matriculations?

Here's another tree to show what I'm asking:


And I've put Heraldic Cadency on my Amazon.com wishlist just in case one comes up for sale. A quick search shows it's a difficult book to come by!

Thank you, Scott, for your patience and explanations.