Hello all...First of all, as this is my first post, all little bit about myself. My name is Joshua (obviously). I'm 30 years old, and have always loved and enjoyed history, particularly the ancient and medieval worlds (especially the ancient). Before registering, I had noticed a 6 year old thread on Custom Sword makers ( http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.14130.html ), as I was doing a google/bing search for custom swords and armor. The information in that thread is quite helpful I must say (I personally liked Patrick Barta's )TEMPL) work I believe it is). And so my main question is, as that thread gave useful information on custom sword makers, can anyone recommend armorers who do custom work? Basically the best custom armorers is what I'm looking for. Particularly the late roman through early medieval period (i.e. about the 4th through 6th centuries).

I'll start by suggesting Jeff Hildebrandt. His work is exquisite and he is patient enough to work with a pedantic pain-in-the-arse like me.
http://www.royaloakarmoury.com/
http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=28063

Thank you, I'll check that out. Again, basically am looking for custom armor to go with the custom swords via the links in that older thread. Though as I said before I prefer something from the 4th-6th centuries A.D., really armor from as far back in history as possible up until the renaissance/American colonial and early independence days of the US era (the Washington, Adams administrations for instance) or even through the German Empire of the 19th century (post Holy Roman Empire). But again custom armor to go with the custom swords, is what am looking for. And I will as mentioned, be sure to check those links. I must add that although the 2004 film King Arthur is not the most accurate film made esp with the roman armor in it (it is a hollywood film after all, shouldn't expect it to be very accurate), however despite the lack of historical accuracy, I still find the armor and weapons in it (especially that of the title character played by Clive Owen) to be very beautiful looking armor and weapons. Just as authentic replicas as it were for armor used by Russell Crowe in Gladiator (I think the praetorian armour looks just as nice as Maximus') can be found in several outlets online (such as http://mpfilmcraft.com/mpfilmcraft/Gladiator.html for example), I do hope one day Owen's armor and the armor of others in that film (authentic replica of course) might also be available for people to buy and wear and display and what not.

If I were you I would go with Royal Oak (Hildebrandt) or Thorkil at http://www.thorkil.pl/main.htm. I don't have anything by either maker, but their work is astounding, and if Jeff met Dan Howard's expectations, and Thorkil met Wulfheodenas' expectations, I don't think you can go wrong.

But there are some other craftsmen out there. Those are the two that jump to my mind though.

Also, check our Links page. There are a number there.

I too was looking for custom armourers for a while. Majority of them has a very long wait list from 2 months to 6 months(I'm on a 6 months que) If you don't want to wait Merctailor makes good armors for very low price for 14th-16th century. I only waited 2 weeks to get my whole thing.

So here is a list in my opinion(good wait time and price/quality)

Merctailor (Very fast))
Clang Armory
Illusion Amory(The wait time on this is almost a year)
Icefalcon (Couple weeks)
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These are custom and the price can be very high

Surly Anvil
Jeffrey Hedgecock
Jeff Wasson
James Arlen Gillaspie
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There are also many more European makers but it's international.

Armor Marek
Best armor
Steel Mastery
Arm street(Etched armor)
Martin Bavin
White Rose armory
Armor Vanek
Andrew Galevskiy
Jolly Knight
WIld Armory

As what the others suggested Royal oak is very good and they have a Roman armor on their website. The current wait time displayed on their site is 8 months. Thorkil's work is stunning, if you are going for 6-8th century he is definitely the man(That helmet lol)

I desire authentic, I just merely said I do like the armor in that film, that I personally thought it looked nice is all that was meant. I know it is not an accurate film, that was stated in my post. The blackened armor with gold/brass trimming I thought was very nice (as shown in the final battle scene towards the end of the movie), and though yes I think it might be nice it something like it were made available for the general public (especially for anyone who might might authentic movie armor for display purposes or for LARPing or what have you, still my preference is for ancient and medieval armor. By the other armor from the film, I was referring to that of Arthur's knights, the saxons, etc., not necessarily the celts/picts in it. Perhaps I should have made that more clear, and that is my fault for not doing so. Such armor I suppose could be of good use for such things. Again once more however, my own personal interests is towards ancient and medieval custom armor.

In the movies they just grab whatever they can find in the props department that looks cool. If you want historical armour that warlords of the alleged time of King Arthur wore, then it would be mainly mail. Some may have worn scale armour. Nothing else. There were some pretty neat helmets though.

Indeed, I like the extra "tail" that the crests of some roman helms have, always thought that looked rather neat (such as Owen's in King Arthur or even Crowe's in Gladiator).