Oh glorious day! My helm arrived in the mail today after staring at my front porch for two weeks. I ordered the Sallet Armet from Armour and Castings, a Ukraine based armourer. From their website description:

"Transitional type of helmet combining both sallet and armet features. The neckguard piece is typical for sallet but the visor is of armet sort. The visor is typical for the period, it is so called "bellows" visor.
Late 15 - early 16 cc."

Communication with the company was fast and straight forward. As soon as I placed my order, I sent in my measurements (which is nice, since I wear glasses, I can finally wear a helmet that takes that into consideration) and money. Just over a week later they sent the helm out, it arrived in town right in the window they promised.

My thoughts:

I love it. There are some flaws with it, but nothing a couple hours with a dremel and some files won't fix. What can you expect from a $300 helm? The fact that for that price, it's fitted to my measure? Awesome. One of the problem areas is the visor slit is a little lopsided, one side is just slightly wider than the other, however, the visor does fit smooth and tight. The lines are crisp and the latch on the side is wonderful. It does come with a liner, and the handmade buckle is a nice touch. It's probably just slightly "overbuilt" in some areas because of my glasses, but it's still a sleek helm I think. Fair is only a couple weeks away. Looking forward to bashing it about!

All in all, wonderful company to deal with, I'll be ordering more from them in the future.

Michael,
Looks pretty good, especially for the price. :) I have no idea why they'd call it an armet, though. Armets have hinged cheekpieces that lock at or under the chin and a visor that closes down over top. Armets most often have sparrow-beak visors as well. I can't think of any bellows-visor true armets, but they might have existed.

I'd just call this a bellows-visor sallet like most publications I've seen do. :)

By the way, Armour and Castings is based in Ukraine, not the Czech Republic. :)

I'd call it a bellows visor sallet too. It really has no armet styling to it. I fixed the country of origin, that's what's happens when you try to write a review in the middle of the night.

Don't sweat it if the helm is a bit cockeyed. The next time you get to a museum, give the real ones a good, hard, critical look. Most modern buyers would not find them acceptable! :eek:

A very nice helmet. I have always loved this design but it is much later than I would normally make a harness for. After seeing such a helmet I really do want one... :lol:

RPM

This is a very good looking bit of kit for the price! I also like the look of Armour and Castings Coventry sallet too.

How is it weight wise? I notice they use 14g steel which seems a tad on the thick side to me - although, of course, more steel between your brain and something heavy is not such a bad idea.

Neil.

Neil,

I'd wager 14 gauge not far off originals in terms of thickness but before this becomes a thickness post we'd be better to bring up some of the older posts on the topic.

Michael,

Settling on a time period is often one of the hardest things to do so you are ahead of most,


RPM

Well, I just put the helm through 3 full contact/full speed steel fights over this last weekend for our show that we do for the local ren fair. It held up great! Just a few nicks and scratches on the shiny surface. Also, once I put on a padded arming cap, the ringing was negated. The push button latch on the side was incredibly advantageous in the hot sun, allowing me to throw my visor up to get air. However, in the first 2 fights there was enough airflow though the bellows to allow me to keep it down. Wonderful visibility though the eye slit while being narrow enough to put aside fears of the blade slipping in. Again, wonderful product! I have 4 more shows this up coming weekend with it. I'll try to have someone take pictures.