What are these:
http://www.myArmoury.com/albums/photo/4359.html
http://www.myArmoury.com/albums/photo/1876.html

More specifically
Do they have a speficic name?
Who used them? (nationality, troop type etc.)
What other pieces of armor were they used with?
What advantages did they have over other types of armor (ease of production, cost, manueverability etc.)?

(I think I can modify a gorget with these using minimal armoring skills, and I'd like to know more about them first.)

Thanks in advance.

This construction of this type of gorget is discussed in this thread:

http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t...=spangrols

In that thread, Chuck Russel posted a link to the following discussion on armourarchive:

http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=53712

In the myArmoury discussion, the original poster refers to this type of gorget as "spangrols," while in the armourarchive thread it is identified as a "munion." Other than that, i know zip. :\

The gorget is just a gorget, it appears to have one collapsing lame. Sometimes these had two and sometimes none (many,many of the sets in Graz of munitions construction have none) with the two base plates just having a lip broken up to provide a rudimentary flange for protection. At one time I had the lames for the arm from one of these(right arm) and the front articulation was done using two sets of leathers and the back slot rivets (the same as on the pauldron arm lames I owned). When attaching the arm lames remember that the gorget has to be able to open on one side to allow you into it so one set of arm lames will need to be able to disengage from the front plate of the gorget via a keyslot and pin to allow the gorget to open. There are examples where the arm plates are buckled on to the gorget like a rudimentary pauldron (one example is in the Treasures of Art Arms and Armor......book on the arsenal at Graz). The type of assembley seems to have been very popular in Germany especially for manufacturing munitions armours, but given the rapidly growing demand for armour for the progressively larger armies of the 16th and 17th centuries being filled by armouries from every corner of Europe i'm sure examples were to be found widely.

These were/are commonly called "Almain collars." As the name suggests, they were most closely identified with 16th c. German and Austrian troops. IIRC, they were favored by infantry. These can be worn alone or in combination with burgonet, steel cap, mail mantle, breast, back, gauntlets, etc. I assume the advantages include ease of arming, flexibility and protection of upper arms and neck. If worn with a burgonet, the helmet would take up coverage where the gorget leaves off.

Visit the Graz site...
http://www.zeughaus.at/frameset_e.html
...then click on the button marked "Some Objects in 3D". If you have Quicktime, you'll be able to select images of the armour and rotate them to get views from all sides. Very cool feature. Anyway, do that and you'll see similar collars. I'll check my Graz CD and see if there's any other info. Unfortunately, the CD is secured-- can't export images.