I have in my posession a mail shirt inherited from my grandfather.
Of a T -style design with horsemans slits front and back and a second at the top front which overlaps from the middle of the chest to the coller.---The mail is of slightly oval cross section of alternate solid and round riveted rows.
The hight is 113 cm X 117 cm with a 9 cm coller.---The links approx inner diameter 8mm-outer 10mm.
Weight 17 kilos.
In good condition some thinning and loss to the links of the coller and bottom of the legs.
There are examples of a similer link profile/rivets etc in the Novodevichy Convent Museum in Moscow.
Thanks for your opinions.
PS--I seem not to be able to send photos !!!??--please contact me

Please see our photo attachment guide for help.

Here are Davids photos.

Does it look all-riveted to anyone else? It does to me. I don't see anything that are clearly solid rings...

Without context and provenance it is impossible to tell. My first guess would be late Indian or Middle Eastern but that is only because there is more of this mail on the market than any other.

Hi David,

Are you sure about the weight of the hauberk? Considering the thickness of the rings, 17 kilos seems a bit heavy.

I'm having a bit of trouble determining if I'm looking at the front rivet or the back rivet. I know that Eastern mail tended to have a dome on both sides. On this one I can't tell...some of the rivets look almost flush with the ring.

I've seen Russian mail that opens up at the front. Maybe it is Eastern European?

David,

Another possible source/location is Sudan. The Higgins has a similar item, although with longer sleeves, possibly from the 1700s. The acquisition number is 526. It has 7mm alternating rings (punched and riveted) with "rivets hardly visible" ....

Will agree with Dan Howard, most of this stuff is impossible to trace. But do hang on to it as clues may pop up in the future.

Dan

Judging by the style of riveted links it does not look to have had a European origin. It is more likely as Dan has said, to be either Indian or Middle Eastern. There is a hodgepodge of links in it. It appears to be composed of alternating rows, but the connecting rows are a mixture of riveted and butted. It's no doubt seen a lot of history in its lifetime.