Does any one know of any blackened or blued armor with its original patina. Looking around I found this helmet. Any one know if it is original ? http://www.royalarmouries.org/visit-us/leeds/...image/1378

There's this http://tethys.imareal.oeaw.ac.at/realonline/images/7002071.JPG and this scale armour http://www.tforum.info/forum/index.php?autoco...mp;img=633 Can anyone tell whether this scale is heat blackened or painted? Notice the rivets and the buckle straps are the same black color. Would these scales be iron or bronze?

Thanks those are interesting examples :)

The harness of Sir George Clifford retains much of its original purplish coloring. See our feature article on him for info and pics.

There are a number of saxon harnesses similar to the one you posted that have the same coloring. I know colored armour has been discussed here before; you can use the Search feature to find more threads.

Dr. Alan Williams has posited that some of these colorings are by-products of the heat-treating process used on the armour.

OK thanks very much chat. I will do some more searches using other terms and see what else i can track down on the forum.

Dear Mr. Lawrence,

Here are two from the Higgins Armory Museum:

416 Close-helmet for the field

2364.a Close helmet

You can use their collection search to find more; but I'm afraid that there isn't a keyword search, so you can't simply search for blued or blackened items.

I hope this proves helpful.

Best,

Mark Millman

Thank you very much Mark for the two examples and the site. I have not seen the site before so look forward to searching what they have :)