Dear all

I am seeking advice regarding choice of armourer for making a new suit of armour, more precisely a copy of the Avant Armour with some customisation. I am looking for an armourer based in Europe working in hardened spring steel, as I would like to move closer to the authentic material, weight and feel of the armour.

At the moment I am considering the following three English armourers, provided that they would have the time to take on the project:

- White Rose Armoury
- Sct. George Armoury
- Englyshe Plate Armorie

Unfortunately, I have been unable to find anyone in the Danish re-enactment community who have first-hand experience with the armour of these armourers. I have found a lot of rumours concerning the high quality of all three, however, I have never been able to find someone, who have actually handled products from the respective armourers.

I therefore hope that someone amongst the users here may be able to help me make an informed decision

Morten,
I've moved your post out of the Marketplace. As its rules state, the Marketplace is not for discussion, just for readers wishing to buy and sell items from their own collections. I've moved your post to put it in the correct place and to allow the discussion you're seeking.

As an armour myself, of 25 years experience and as someone who jousts in historical armour, I would like to recommend Per Lillelund Jensen, who I believe now is in Sweden. He used to be in Copenhagen, but I think he moved a couple of years ago.

Of the European armourers, none have the experience with Italian armours that Per does. His attention to detail is fantastic.

I worked with him back in 2003 when he came here to work in my shop with me for a few weeks. I still joust in a great bascinet he raised the skull on while here on that visit. He's made armour for Tobias Capwell, who is curator of arms and armour at the Wallace collection London. Toby jousts in that armour.

Best of luck!

++1 for Per Lillelund

Excellent fellow to chat with, dedicated researcher, terrific armourer. The worrisome question is: how long is his commission queue?

Have you given any thought to the armouers in the Ukraine?

I've done work with Maxim at Wildarmoury now for two years and he keeps getting better. My new early 15th century Curiass, arms and legs are by him. They are hardened spring steel.


This is a shot of the legs on Maxim, not me, so no comments on the fit of the legs or sabaton.

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The gauntlets he just finished (got them in Tuesday):

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and the shoulders:
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I've also done some stuff with HammerBreaker (Anton) with my late 14th century kit:

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My own recommendation, based on experience, would be Jiri Klepac of the Czech Republic:

www.armor.cz

Jiri made a Churburg 18 leg harness (early 15th c) for me, based on leg casts and it fits perfectly. They are a delight to move and fight in. The pricing was more than fair, and communication with Jiri is excellent.

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Living in Scandinavia, I would definately check out the wonderful mr. Albert Collins of http://www.viaarmorari.com/
Sweet guy, dedicated craftsman and within driving distance from Denmark.

What are Albert's prices like?

I really like a lot of his pieces with the "rough" finish.

I think it would be a challenge to find a piece to have made where the rough finish would complement the item. :-)

He makes shiny things as well but I also think the roughness makes the piece come alive. He only does custom work as far as I know so he's definitely in the upper end of the price scale. I only have one price quote from Albert so thats not representative but I will hopefully end up paying him around 1200USD for a kettle hat (if my budgets survive this winter ...). Thats a lot of money but not expencive for what you get.

I can highly recommend Stanislav ('Mac') Prosek: http://www.mac-armour.cz/index.htm

Below is my sallet (or one of them!); a thing of exquisite beauty - and in hardened spring steel, which not all makers work in.

Cheers,
Mark T

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Have commissioned a number of helms and shield from Thorkil I have always been happy to be a return customer of his high end reconstructions and I would highly recommend him as a considered choice for your intended project. Well known for his early medieval helms he is equally at home and proficient with later plate armours.

http://www.thorkil.pl/armours.htm and here also http://www.thorkil.pl/medieval_helmets.htm

best
Dave

For such a high priced project you should also consider to visit the armourer. From Copenhagen you should be able to visit the people mentioned in Scandinavia, but I could throw in another talented armourer. Christian Wiedner, he has made my arm harness, a set of hourglass gauntlets and a pair of Visby style gauntlets. For a friend he made a covered breast plate with fauld, inside fully tinned by hand and he does a lot of 15th century armours. Just have a look at his site.
http://www.plattnerei-wiedner.de/

He always recommends customers to visit him, and I did visit him twice for my projects. Always with a day long visit for fitting while he worked on the pieces.

Jiri Klepac is great to work with too. I got a fantastic raised Klappvisier bascinet, my breastplate and fauld and a set of raised 14th century soup can elbows from him.

I recommend Christian Wiedner aswell. He knows his craftmanship. I am very pleased with his work.

Dear all

Thank you so much for your input (and thanks Chad, for moving the topic)!

I am still considering, and will definitely be contacting some of the proposed armourers to get a preliminary quote. In particluar thanks for the alternativ suggestions, not limited by my three proposed options :)

Regarding Mac Armour, my current armour is actually from Mac (http://zbroje.mac-armour.cz/gallery.html?folder=76) with gauntlets, forarms and elbows from spring steel, shoulders and bevor from 1,5mm mild steel, and helmet/breat/backplate from 2mm steel. Going on 100+ full contact fights its still holding up very well.

Next week I will be visiting Dave Hewitt from white rose armoury. To members of my group already had suits of armor made by him, and they are higly satisfied with the result and added service.
If you like, i can post my opinion and experience after my visit