Hello, I've recently been thinking about a piece of armor I saw in Paris last year. This one comes from the Musee d'Armee:

[ Linked Image ]

You can see that it's an open-front design, with overlapping "lapels". As an amateur mail maker I find this interesting because it seems like the only way to achieve a tailored waist on a hauberk. With the more common closed-front design, a narrow waist makes it impossible to pull over the head and shoulders. Some questions on this piece:

1) I don't remember what was on the placard. What time/place would you estimate this came from?
2) The fasteners are covered up by plates so you can't see them. How would a piece like this be held closed in front?
3) Would medieval people have consider the double breasted cut to be a defensive advantage - with double layers on the front of the chest - or was it chiefly an ergonomic feature?
4) This design seems uncommon both in period examples and in artwork. Anyone aware of other pieces like this one?

An idle musing.

The asymmetric stretching of mail means that you can actually get a relatively tailored waist without any fastenings at all. The trick is to construct the hauberk such that the waist at maximum expansion is just wide enough to fit over the shoulders + padding. The weight of the rest of the skirt then pulls it narrower around the waist when it's in place.

You can normally get a good few inches of stretch out of a mail shirt, which is generally enough for typical waist:shoulder ratios.

Here is another hauberk with a front overlap.

European (Germany) riveted mail hauberk, 1450 to 1500, with a brass makers mark on the chest, Germanisches National Museum, Nürnberg, Bayern, Germany.
[ Linked Image ]

I am wondering how the inner breast flap that gets covered over by the top flap is initially secured when putting it on? It obviously looks very functional and attractive as a reproduction possibility.

In the above example the double-breasted part looks like an additional flap over the top of a regular hauberk.