Hi all :)

We know about a visored bascinet.
But I have very simple question about visored bascinet.
It is about a hole of bottom of the visor.
ummmm... toooo difficult to write in English for me... :( :(
Please see a photo ;)

[ Linked Image ]

Why these hole such a shape? :?:
I think that this hole is for breathing.
If it is so... Why is not these hole round(as other holes)? :?:

thanks ^^

If I had to make a wild guess at a reason for that feature... Style. It also creates a bit of a lip, which I assume would be easy to grip with a gauntlet so as to lift the visor.

-Gregory

I've got a houndskull bascinet and a couple of other helmets with slots cut like that.
If I look downward I can see the ground and my feet though them.

Definitely style, is this not just a gentleman's smiling face? I mean, no need not to be polite while killing, right?

Yes! :D It is the right thing to do, being polite while you hack at your opponent, but also it is a powerful psychological weapon to appear that you enjoy yourself and hardly give a sweat while you are fighting someone who feel he is on the brink of exhaustion ... :p I knew it very well from my own experience ;)

I wear a similar helmet for living history. That lip does not really help me lift the visor. The easiest thing to grab to lift the visor is the pointed tip of the snout or bottom edge of the visor while wearing gauntlets. What it does do for me is give me the only spot to look through to be able to see the ground and what's happening lower than my horizontal line-of-sight. The protrusion surrounding the opening is there for the same reason as it is on the eye sights, and that is to prevent errant blade thrusts from going in to your face. Wearing these helmets for hours on end makes me believe it's just another sight, not a breath like the small holes on the right side of the snout.

Here's a shot of mine, the only difference being that the mouth is 'slotted' like you see on some extant pieces (again to prevent weapons from going in)

[ Linked Image ]

lol Ian, all I can think of is your visor needs braces ;) lol

It is there to help you see your reins. This is knightly headgear, after all. When one was actually fighting hand to hand in the field, one usually had the visor up. When fighting in a foot tourney with the visor down, though, as some of the above posters have commented, it sure is handy!