[Joonas Pessi]

I have read about the helmet from Vintala (for some reason the word crown is used for this object), and it was the only iron age helmet that has been found in Finland.

Unfortunately it was sold to a goldsmith in Turku, who hammered it to a formless lump

However a description of it survives: "The crown from Vintala was formed of a rounded band, which was gilded with gold, and to this were attached 8 other bands, which met at the top. Between these bands would have probaply been either plates of iron or leather"

This description seems to match the gothic spangenhelm quite
well, and it would date it to the 5th, or 6th century.

I also heard that there was a sketch that was made of it by memory, but I am unable to find it with google. If any of the forum members could share this sketch, it would be greatly appreciated

[Chris Gilman]

The only thing I know of is this write up:
https://www.scribd.com/document/377371414/Teodora2-pdf

Excerpt:
By contrast, an East Central European connection, most likely viaHungary, must be assumed for such northernmost finds, as the segmental hel-met found in the 1870s in Vintala, near Turku (southwestern Finland).¹
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Suchhelmets (the so-called Baldenheim type) were produced in imperial workshopsin the major cities of the empire, such as Constantinople, Kyzikos, Nikomedia,and Thessalonica. They were part of the equipment of high-ranking officers of the early Byzantine army, and their presence beyond the northern frontier of the Empire is a clear indication of elevated social status and special relationswith Byantium. Several such helmets have been found in burial assemblagesin Hungary and Slovakia, and the specimen from Finland may have well comefrom the Carpathian Basin as well.¹
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One can only guess what the nature of he relations may have been between elites in the lands of present-day Hungary and Finland: the former must have operated as a relay for the Byzantine influ-ence from the south reaching as far as Scandinavia. Relations between Scandi-navia and the Carpathian Basin are otherwise well documented in the archaeo-logical record. Nils Å
berg
has once suggested that a true commercial network existed between sixth-century Gotland and Italy, in which the lands of the Ge-pids in what is now Hungary played a major role.



I made a helmet of this style years ago, that was inspired by some jewelry pieces in the National museum in Helsinki (No helmet there though)

[Joonas Pessi]

Thats an awesome helmet Chris! Why jewelry from Finland in particular as an inspiration?

[Chris Gilman]

My wife is from Espoo and I was making a Finnish based Iron age kit.

[Joonas Pessi]

[Chris Gilman]

We met on a Valio Ice Cream commercial.
A couple of other Finnish things I have made.




The birch handle is from my Father-in-laws property in Lappland

[Mark Moore]

Awesome stuff, Chris! ...Love the helmet. Leather-backed chainmail is just too cool. ......McM

[Tommi Syrjänen]

[Joonas Pessi]

Chris thats some awesome jewelry Thanks for suggesting that source Tommi, I will try to find it from some universitys library here in Tampere

I asked one of my friends who is an archeologist, if he had the sketch at hand, and he said he will look for it in some archive when he has the time. So the search for the sketch is still ongoing.

[Tommi Syrjänen]

It was in Karhunhammas 4. I returned a couple of books today to the library checked that on the same trip:



The image is from an unpublished manuscript Eräs hukkaan mennyt arvokas muinaisesine by Matti Kauppinen that was kept in the Museovirasto archives when the article was written. I don't know whether it is still there (there have been some reorganizations of archives since). The image was drawn by Matti Hurme.

Luoto's article is a bit too long to translate here, but a very quick summary of important points are:

* the height is about 15 cm (I'd guess it was originally specified as "about six inches")

* the horizontal band was about 4 cm wide

* it had 8 vertical bands, which is curious because spangenhelms usually have four or six, but there is one early (pre-575) helm from Germany that has 12 bands (found from a grave in the Cologne cathedral)

* the bands had embossed rings and floral patterns (Hurme seems to have used the dialect term kruusinki to describe them, I myself would understand the word to mean any detailed complex ornamentation)

* the find belonged to cemetery that was in use at least from the early 9th century to the 11-12th based on the typology of later finds from the same area, but may have been used for a longer period.

* the helm was shiny when unearthed, but fetched only a small price, suggesting that it probably was gold-plated bronze (or that the finders were badly cheated by the goldsmith)

* whatever there was between the bands had been completely decayed away

* Luoto believes that it was made during migration period but acknowledges that helms of spangenhelm construction were made also later.

* there is a slight possibility that the helmet survived and was sold to abroad.
Here's the Cologne cathedral helm from the article:

[Tommi Syrjänen]

[Joonas Pessi]

Thanks a lot for the for the sketch and information Tommi

I am wondering about the construction of the Cologne cathedral helmet, are there 6 plates which have a band riveted at the center, and 2 bands on each side (one under) clamping the sides of the plates together, or an all clamped construction with 12 plates in all, similiar to the Germundbu helmet? (Regarding the clamped construction, and not the number of the plates)

If my first hunch is correct, the helmet from vintala might have had 4 plates attached to the frame.