[Caleb Cox]

Hey all,
I inherited this set of armor from a friend who passed away. Any clue as to what era/country it's replicating? I don't see any markers markings. He had it at least 30 years, so I don't think it's the Pakistani/Indian stuff. The greaves seem well articulated and move nicely. Here's some photos of me in it.

[Victor R.]

This may have been influenced, at least in part, by some of the Milanese export pieces - lots of organic, rounded elements and larger size plates (Gothic tended towards more sleek/smaller plates). The helm ridge and overall shape reminds me a little of the George Clifford garniture, though not nearly as fancy.

This would be "munitions grade", most likely, or a step above, so for a lower class knight, a man at arms, or possibly an upper class knight/noble that didn't want to stand out while on the field with all manner of brass, etching, gold leaf, painted designs and other things the very wealthy did to pimp out their armor for court, tournament and parade.

The sabatons would not be conducive to stirrups, so this is likely designed for unmounted combat. I've seen this "duckfoot" on higher end suits that had interchangeable elements for different types of tournament combat.

As for the "where", elements in these styles could likely be found all over Western Europe in particular, but it doesn't scream "England" or "France" or "Spain" particularly; it does scream "probably not Germanic realms", at least to me. Since it appears to be at least somewhat influenced by the Milanese export style, you would have found it wherever plate armor was used in the middle to later 15th century and into the 16th. Clifford, who I mentioned, was actually a late 16th century guy, but his famous armor seemed a bit out of "style" by then, with firearms more prevalent on the field and full armors of this style less so. My two cents; others may disagree. At the very least, you may get some search terms out of here to guide your own research.

[Arne G.]

[Caleb Cox]

Actually, my late friend did live in Northern California, so it's quite possible. Thanks for this lead. I'll do some internet searches. Feel free to post a picture of that catalog picture here. It would be fun to compare.

And thank you Victor for your wealth of knowledge. This place astounds me!

[Arne G.]

[Chad Arnow]

Arne,
Great detective work! It was fun to read the advertisement. I'm old enough that my first exposure to some companies like MRL and A&A (and others) was by sending money through the mail to receive a paper catalogue.

[M. Adair Orr]

Oh my, I clipped an ad for his catalog from the back of Smithsonian Magazine. I still have it on the shelf.
-Adair