How old is this helmet and maile? -- myArmoury.com

Dan Howard · Posted: Mon 19 Sep, 2016 3:28 pm Post subject:

The helmet is modern.The mail looks genuine but comes from different sources. My first guess is eastern - perhaps Turko-Persian or Indian. I don't think there are any wedge-riveted pieces but it is hard to tell.

Rusty H · Posted: Mon 19 Sep, 2016 3:34 pm Post subject:

Most of the maille on the helmet is round riveted. There is some different maille on the fringe that is slightly smaller and of a different metal and is held on by an open ring

Rusty H · Posted: Mon 19 Sep, 2016 3:43 pm Post subject:

Backside or some maille on the helmet

Rusty H · Posted: Mon 19 Sep, 2016 3:49 pm Post subject:

Just a pic of what the majority of the maille looks like.

Rusty H · Posted: Mon 19 Sep, 2016 4:51 pm Post subject:

Some closer pics of the shirt

Rusty H · Posted: Mon 19 Sep, 2016 4:55 pm Post subject:

A popped rivet

Rusty H · Posted: Mon 19 Sep, 2016 5:30 pm Post subject:

Does the maille on the shirt also look like it's from an eastern origin?

Rusty H · Posted: Mon 19 Sep, 2016 8:21 pm Post subject:

For reference on the helmet maille

Mark Griffin · Posted: Tue 20 Sep, 2016 12:45 am Post subject:

As per Dan, you have some very nice bits of old mail there, some of the more 'maily' people will be able to give pointers but its all pretty old. Its hard to date and identify but its a really good find.

The helmet is a modern repro. It looks pretty typical of one made for stage/pageant use around mid 20th cent.

Rusty H · Posted: Tue 20 Sep, 2016 7:58 am Post subject:

Great. Thanks for everybody's replies to help me understand this item better.

Eric S · Posted: Sat 24 Sep, 2016 12:00 am Post subject:

Eric S · Posted: Sun 25 Sep, 2016 4:25 pm Post subject:

Rusty H · Posted: Mon 26 Sep, 2016 1:10 am Post subject:

Hello. The mail on the helmet was what I was referring to as round riveted since I hadn't seen any popped rivets like I could find on the shirt. I did find a few pieces on the helmet that were missing rivets. I tried my best to get a good pic but the rings are verily small. Also the mail on the helmet has a color more like a bronze or copper on worn areas. But it does stick to a magnet except for the darker rings on some of the fringe areas.

Rusty H · Posted: Mon 26 Sep, 2016 1:13 am Post subject:

The hole is hard to see in both pics. These are two different rings missing a rivet

Eric S · Posted: Mon 26 Sep, 2016 7:45 am Post subject:

Rusty H · Posted: Mon 26 Sep, 2016 8:40 am Post subject:

What you're saying describes what I'm seeing on all the maile Eric. The mail that's non magnetic on the helmet looks like bronze and the rings that make up the bulk of the mail on the helmet might be an alloy maybe. I've been finding some similar uses of copper alloys online here. I just don't know if the alloys in the past had iron added to them.

https://finds.org.uk/database/search/results/objectType/MAIL+ARMOUR/direction/desc/show/10/materialTerm/Copper+alloy

Dan Howard · Posted: Mon 26 Sep, 2016 2:10 pm Post subject:

Eric S · Posted: Wed 28 Sep, 2016 12:02 pm Post subject:

Is this a correct representation of how an authentic helmet of this type would have looked, would it have had an aventail like the one on this example? If so maybe this was a former museum exhibit or from a collection meant to show how a hauberk and helmet from the time period would have looked like.