Any thoughts on age and origin of this mail shirt?
Some other users on here have been very helpful to me in providing me with some great research sources in order to expand my knowledge of maille (Eric S, Dan Howard, Mart Shearer, my thanks to you in particular).

That being so, and with the information I have absorbed, I have been sent these photos of a maille shirt, by a dealer who thought I might be interested in buying it. I don't actually think I am very interested, but it is good to look and learn.

Difficult to tell origin or riveting technique, as don't have view of the inside of the rivets, and don't know the size of the links, other than by looking at the size in relation to the whole shirt and extrapolating a rough idea of scale from that. All riveted so, if European would be post 14th century.

My impression:

Age-wise most probably 16th-17th century
Origin: could be European provenance? Doesn't look typically like the Indo-Persian or Ottoman maille I have seen.
Obviously would need more photos and interior views to know more.

Any thoughts? Thanks.


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Re: Any thoughts on age and origin of this mail shirt?
Tom Wolfe wrote:
I have been sent these photos of a maille shirt, by a dealer who thought I might be interested in buying it. I don't actually think I am very interested, but it is good to look and learn.

Difficult to tell origin or riveting technique, as don't have view of the inside of the rivets, and don't know the size of the links, other than by looking at the size in relation to the whole shirt and extrapolating a rough idea of scale from that. All riveted so, if European would be post 14th century.

My impression:

Age-wise most probably 16th-17th century
Origin: could be European provenance? Doesn't look typically like the Indo-Persian or Ottoman maille I have seen.
Obviously would need more photos and interior views to know more.

Any thoughts? Thanks.


It is all round riveted mail, not Indo-Persian in my opinion so I would say it was European except supposedly European round riveted mail was alternated with rows of solid links, what did the dealer say about it?
[ Linked Image ]
It reminds me quite a bit of the 19th century (Tsar Nikolai I) Russian mail which Eric has posted before. The wire looks fairly modern.
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/7881368071827265/
[ Linked Image ]
The link that we can see edge-on appears to have two heads.
James Arlen Gillaspie wrote:
The link that we can see edge-on appears to have two heads.
Round riveted mail would have a rivet head showing on both sides.
Mart Shearer wrote:
It reminds me quite a bit of the 19th century (Tsar Nikolai I) Russian mail which Eric has posted before. The wire looks fairly modern.
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/7881368071827265/
[ Linked Image ]


Mart, I was thinking about this exact mail today, maybe an older version.

[ Linked Image ]
Re: Any thoughts on age and origin of this mail shirt?
Eric S wrote:


It is all round riveted mail, not Indo-Persian in my opinion so I would say it was European except supposedly European round riveted mail was alternated with rows of solid links, what did the dealer say about it?
[ Linked Image ]


Thanks Eric. I actually don't know anything about what the dealer reckons it is- I've sent a couple of follow up emails asking for details but he's stopped replying. If I get any info I will share it of course.
Mart Shearer wrote:
It reminds me quite a bit of the 19th century (Tsar Nikolai I) Russian mail which Eric has posted before. The wire looks fairly modern.
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/7881368071827265/


Thanks Mart, I can see the clear similarity there. I'm trying to get more info from the dealer, but not forthcoming at the moment. So you reckon this could be quite late maille then, maybe 18th-19th century? And Eastern European/Russian rather than say Western or Southern European?
I'd say that's a good "best guess".

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