AN ENGLISH FUNERARY CLOSE HELMET, LATE 17TH CENTURY, INCORPORATING EARLIER ELEMENTS with rounded two-piece skull joined medially by an overlapped and riveted join, fitted at its apex with a distally-pierced vertical rod for the attachment of an heraldic crest, at its rear with a separate nape-plate, and at its front with a visor, upper bevor and bevor attached by common pivots, the forward-projecting visor pierced with a pair of vision-slits and the upper bevor pierced at each side with nine circular ventilation-holes in rosette formation, and deep one-piece gorget-plates front and rear originally forming an early 17th century pikeman's collar, the rear one possibly of early 17th century Greenwich make and decorated with cascaded bands and borders occupied by decorative round-headed rivets, and the rear one later decorated en suite with it (the helmet pitted and blackened overall, the left of the crown, the centre of the bevor and the right of the rear gorget-plate repaired with internal patches) 59 cm; 23¼ in Provenance Anderson Galleries Inc., New York, 13th December 1931, lot 127 JWHA Inv. No. 194
£2250 or open to trades or swaps for other arms and armour, rather interestingly the two part skull, resembles a skull cap and looks earlier although it could possibly just be a 17th 'Secret' it has the original Higgins collection numbered tag on it.
If interested please email me at knightofengland@hotmail.co.uk for more photos etc.
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