Patch of Heavy-Ringed Mail on Back? -- myArmoury.com

Torsten F.H. Wilke

I saw this old shirt of mail the other day, and I noticed that the rear shoulder-blades area was reinforced with a much heavier guage ring doubled up into the regular weave. The main body of the shirt was made up of small riveted rings, which looked to have been about eighteen guage at one time. The rivets were minute! The mail showed considerable wear, in-as-much that the rings weren't even a consistent thickness anymore, by a long shot. They even looked to have not been made round in cross-section, but with a sharp ridge. Now, the reinforced area looked to be of the same age as the rest, but made of about sixteen to fourteen guage wire. The patch was about six by thirteen inches at the height of the shoulder blades. What would that have been used for? The actual difference in the rings is more exaggerated than in the photo.

Alex Oster · Posted: Sat 09 Sep, 2006 2:48 am Post subject:

Considering that some persian and moro mail had the steel plates in the same locations, it would stand to reason that key locations would be reinforced. The lighter links in binding/chafing locations and heavy links in defensive/vitals locations...

Michael Edelson · Posted: Sat 09 Sep, 2006 9:30 am Post subject:

But why the rear shoulder blades? Short of fleeing from cavalry, I can't think of a reason why that area would be reinforced instead of the upper/front shoulders, torso, or other places you are likely to get struck in when advancing.

Patrick Kelly · Posted: Sat 09 Sep, 2006 11:36 am Post subject:

It seems more likely to be some kind of repair to me. Is the heavier patch attached over the pre-existing rings of the hauberk or is it inserted into a space in the mail?

Alex Oster · Posted: Sat 09 Sep, 2006 11:59 am Post subject:

Dan Howard · Posted: Sat 09 Sep, 2006 5:59 pm Post subject:

Looks like a repair to me too. There are plenty of examples of mail shirts made up of several distinct types of mail from different periods/regions.

Chuck Russell · Posted: Sat 09 Sep, 2006 8:45 pm Post subject:

im betting either a museum or a previous private owner wanted a full mail shirt and had repair/patch jobs done to this shirt.

Torsten F.H. Wilke · Posted: Sun 10 Sep, 2006 4:52 pm Post subject:

The area of concern has all the smaller rings intact. The heavier guage ones are doubled up into the smaller rings, but only in one orientation. Instead of 4 on 1 it is 4 on 2, if I'm describing it correctly. The heavier guage portion is not a seperate sheet attached on top of the main body of mail. The main shirt body is comprised of all homogeneous type rings, as in seeming to be of the same age, material, manufacture type, etc. That doesn't seem to indicate an enlargement or repair job as an explanation. I believe the mail is of Persian origin. Maybe it's a possibility that the back is actually the front, but it was somewhat hard to tell for me due to the state of the thing.