While doing a little research for another thread I came across this skull cap / early bascinet.

http://www.futuremuseum.co.uk/collections/peo...amail.aspx

Has anyone here seen this before. Is it real or is it a fake?

If it is real then it's an interesting specimen. It's leather liner is still intact, and it shows that the aventail was attached to liner, and not riveted to the helm, as some speculate was done on early bascinets.

The camail looks like a gusset. Notice the change of direction in the rows? Compare these at the Met.
http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-colle...amp;pos=81
http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-colle...amp;pos=83

Hey Mart. I did notice the change in direction in the mail. This has me worried that it's a composite piece. I'm still hoping that it's real though :-D

The helmet could easily be an "archer's sallet" or "secret" rather than a 13th or 14th century cervelliere or bascinet. The mail does not belong.

Well that's always the danger with these skull caps. The design was used for a long period of time, making them really hard to date.

So a composite piece. I feared as much.

It does look like the upper half of a sallet, but I would bet that it started life pretty close to how it is now - minus the armpit voider. It may have sported rondels over the ears, which is an alternative explanation for the hole visible there. Anyway, it still isn't going to be much use as a reference for you, Stephen; it looks to be an early 16th C infantry skull cap, like the sort you see depicted in Landsknecht woodcuts:

[ Linked Image ]

And a similar one I photographed in the Royal Ontario Museum:

[ Linked Image ]

-Jeffrey Hildebrandt

The thing that says cut down sallet the most is the alignment of the lining holes. You can see in Jeffs photo that the lining holes are spread evenly around the edge of the helmet unlike the helmet in question.
The side holes also have elongated with wear, the same as I have found on other sallets that have lost their visors.

as an aside to the helmet Dean castle has a great collection, inc a stunning bascinet, a few decent swords and tapestries assembled by the Lords de Walden. Its one of the really good smaller collections and coupled with the fine buildings (estate farm as well as the main site) its well worth a visit.