I stumbled across this picture on Stephen Pollington's Myspace page. According to the caption it was taken at the Bede's World museum.

The helm in the picture is unfamiliar to me. Is it based on a historical find? From this (admittedly poor quality) picture it almost appears to be a Vendel 1 helm that has had the cheek and neck guards from the Sutton Hoo helm added on. I don't recall any of the actual Vendel or Valsgarde helms having neck and cheek guards like this.

Does anyone have a better picture or more detailed information about this helm?

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Man that's one nice set of arms. I'd love 2 have something like this for my 'collection'. I especially love the way that white grip looks on the sword. Perhaps the neck and cheek guards are based on the finds from the staffordshire hoard? If anyone has any more pics from this museum I'd love to see more.

Hi

It's a speculative helm, and you are correct to believe that it is not based on any actual find.

It's highly probable though that a helm with guards such as this may have been produced and worn, the helms
depicted on the figures displayed on the pressbleche are shown with helms of such a configuration.


best
Dave

David,
Thank you for that information. I suspected as much. It seems to be based on several historical finds and could very likely have existed in the same time period. I would imagine that the sword in in this display falls into the same category. Both look to be exceptional pieces of work. Any idea who made them for the museum?

Just wanted to give this a bit of a bump. I'm still hoping someone has some more pictures of this display or maybe some information on who made the helm and sword. Someone? Anyone?

I don't know who made this piece, but I know a person who can make an outstanding helm.

Check here:

http://www.thorkil.pl/dark_ages_helmets.htm