so weve likely all seen it, massive elephant armour made of big solid plates, supposedly indian from stratford armouries. now housed in ripleys believe it or not

it looks big, crude, and it keeps making the rounds as indian elephant armour,

i dont believe for a second that its authentically indian, it looks nothing like indian armour styles for one and its too crude for how expensive it would have been.

but noone, especially since the stratford armouries site shut down, noone on the net seems to have anything to say on who actually made it and when.
does anyone have the faintest idea where it came from?

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'indian elephant armour' stratford armouries [ Download ]

Oh, I LIKE it! Gonna put that on my project list, ha!

All seriousness aside, no, it's no very convincing, especially with that vacation villa on top! Victorian early 20th century costume piece, perhaps?

Matthew

According to a Wikipedia article about the Stratford Armouries:

"The museum features a wide range of exhibits - the most noteworthy include a life-sized armoured Indian elephant, a cannon dating from 1450, and a giant crossbow modelled on Leonardo da Vinci's original design. The elephant armour was designed and constructed by Terry English, a famous armourer who has worked on several famous films including the Harry Potter series."

Hope that helps.

In several internet references to Stratford Armouries, it notes that the late brother of the curator, Robin Wigington, was a Tipu Sultan expert and had a collection of Tipu Sultan artefacts, seemingly auctioned off after his death. It is possible that this elephant, fantastical though it is, may have been associated with that collection.

Next to the other Elephant armours i can't help but wonder how you'd get it on?

The royal armoury one is strapped together at the top an forms a basic caparison with added neck and face segments.
Its also much lighter at currently 118kg so ~150kg with the missing panels, and use smaller plates that need less working and that work could be split up.

The one shown has odd things like the eye covers that remind me of horse blinkers for front vision, so it can't see where its going.. :confused:

[ Linked Image ]

also something i noticed, buth from artwork and these originals, armoured indian elephants didnt have howdahs for some reason.