[Nick C]

Hi folks, I am a general picker and collector of the unique and historical. A local gentleman I know has some very interesting items for sale. I love them and think they're great, unfortunately I don't know much about them and the prices he is asking are extremely high and I would be crazy not to get some feedback before making any offers.

I thought this crowd might appreciate these items and be able to tell me some historical information about them and market value.

The first is a crossbow. The seller is telling me it is from 1480-1520 and in some quick research I found it fits a similar design for a German crossbow in that timeframe, but the modern looking bolt you can see in one of the pictures makes me have serious doubts.

The second is a Morion helmet, circa 1670-1750, extremely fine repousse engraving and said to be a remake of a helmet discovered in the 14th century.

The third item appears to be an Italian or German steel mace circa 1490-1540.

Any information is helpful and I hope you enjoy the pictures,

Kind regards

-Nick

[Sean Flynt]

The Hermann Historica catalogs are good reference points: http://www.hermann-historica.de/gb/index_abgeschlossen_N.html

These include both genuine medieval/Renaissance pieces as well as "historismus" (historicism) and "im stil" (in the style of) pieces.

[Craig Peters]

All of these artifacts seem suspicious to me. The crossbow looks like 19th or 20th century reproduction. The mace also really "feels" wrong from its appearance. If you spend time looking at authentic maces, you will see what I mean. The flanges on the mace are a bit unusual, and the whole thing has the feel of something created in the 19th century.

As for the Morion, I am much less qualified to comment on it, but keep in mind that it is a helmet style which is relatively easy to copy. If the seller claims that the Morion is a remake of a helm discovered in the 14th century, then that's flat out wrong. During the 14th century, the helmets used were greath helms, barbutes, the bascinet, and the hounskull bascinet. Morions do not appear until the 16th century.

The whole thing smells bogus to me. I would stay away from it.