Cuirassier's Three Quarter Armor 1620
Consisting of a helmet, gorget, breastplate, backplate, arms with integral pauldrons, gauntlets and tassets.
Closed burgonet: Two piece skull joined at the high flat crest with a roll. The crest flat, with a thickness mimicing the roll. Roll formed with the right side rolling over the left side. Base of the roll with a narrow rounded recess similar to the rolls on other parts of the harness. The front and back of the bowl with flat overlapping seams at the ends of the crest. Bevor and brim pivoted at a common point. Base of the skull and bevor with a row of lining rivets. The bevor and skull each with a single large neck lame secured to the skull and bevor with solid rivets on each side, the outer edge with simple inward turns bordered by a row of lining rivets. Visor, brim and hooks excellent replacements by Albert Collins - master armourer in Sweden.
Gorget: Formed of a single plate front and back with a low extension at the neck. Top edge of the neck with a simple inward turn. Large front plate extending to a rounded point. Lower edges of the plates with simple bumps simulating a roll. Plates secured by a rivet on the left and keyhole slot and peg at the right. Right side with older and new repairs to stabilize the keyhole and peg. Carries a pair of steel plate mounted rectangular loops to secure the straps to which the pauldrons are buckled. Straps new. One mount likely new. Other mount?
Breast and back: Well matched breast and back. Breast with with a central crease extending to a simple, narrow peascod at the waist. The bottom of the breast flared to carry the tassets. Neck and arm holes with simple inward turned rolls. Right side of the breast with a small proof mark. Breast of heavier, shot proof weight. Well matched backplate formed to the shoulder blades and with simple inward turns at the neck and arms, and narrow flare at the waist bordered by a narrow inward turned roll with a narrow recess. Recess bordered by a row of rivets to secure a lining strip. Breast with replaced leather straps at the shoulders. Back with matching rectangular buckles mounted with pointed metal mounting plates at each shoulder. Breast and back secured at the sides by a peg in the backplate and hinged mounts in the breastplate. These are an older replacement for the original waist belt that would have been secured to the backplate at each side at the (now filled) holes.
Arms and Pauldrons: Two well matched arms. Pauldrons of 7 plates the center one (third from the top) larger and overlapping the upper and lower plates. The top three plates extended to cover the shoulder and overlap the breast and back plate. The outer edge of these plates with a simple inward turned roll bordered by a narrow, rounded recess and a line of rivets that secure remains of a lining leather. The bottom four plates shaped to the arm. The seven plates creased vertically at the center. Top 3 plates secured front and back with pivoting rivets. The upper plates include interior leathers to limit movement. Two in the case of the left and one in the right. The bottom five secured by sliding rivets at the back and leathers at the center and front. Permanently secured to the arms with turning collar. Turning collar engaging a closed upper canon. Closed lower canon formed of an inner and outer plate with a simple inward turned roll at the wrist (the left with a matching turn at the elbow), the plates secured by a pair of hinges at the back and pin at the front. Bracelet couter with central horizontal crease in the cop and wing bordered by a plain inward turn matching the pauldrons. The bracelet is closed by a riveted seam at the back. The cop is secured to the canons by one plate above and one plate below. All overlapping edges of the plates with rough bevels bordered by a single engraved line. The left slightly longer.
Gauntlets: One piece bell cuffs with 4 plate back of hand and a knuckle plate with a raised roped ridge. Hand plates with a single engraved line parallel to the edge. Cuffs with lightly roped inward turned rolls with parallel recessed border at the edge. Main thumb plate secured to the metacarpal by a leather strip. Scaled fingers and thump plates secured to leather. Restorations to the cuffs, fingers and thumbs by David Hewitt in 2021. Associated with the rest of the harness in 2021. Reasonably well matched, but liklely Italian and earlier.
Tassets: Designed to be worn in two configurations, long and short. The two parts secured to each other by a keyhole and peg at the outside and smaller keyhole and turning pin at the center. The overall tassets extending from the base of the breastplate to covering the knee with a polyene with single lower plate. Secured to the breastplate by (newer) hinged hasps. The upper tassets formed of a larger first plate with a central horizontal crease where the line changes from that of the flare on the bottom of the breastplate to the more vertical line of the pendant tassets. This top plate is overlapped by four narrow plates and a final longer plate. The bottom edge of the final plate with a narrow inward turn bordered by a narrow semi-circular recess. This allows the front of the roll to be roughly aligned with the body of the plate so that the lower tasset plates will align correctly. The lower formed of four narrow plates with one larger plate at the bottom which carries a poleyne of 4 plates. The main poleyn plate with a rounded wing on the outside with a simple inward turned roll the cop edges forming a blunt point at the center of the top and bottom. This is articulated to the main plates by a single lame top and bottom, the center of the upper lame rising to a point mimicing that on the cop. The lowest plate formed to the knee at the top and with a simple inward turn on the lower arched edge. The tassets currently secured by a central leather and rivets at the inside and outside. The inside line of rivets would originally have been a leather.
All but the gauntlets from the same source. Gauntlets associated by previous owner. Restorations to the helmet by Albert Collins. Minor repairs to the other parts by David Hewitt. Primarily from a single group purchased from Siri Melchoir. She inherited from her father. It was contained in Danish removal boxes. This and the other armour from the same source compare very closely to pieces from the Tojhusmuseum arsenal from which a few pieces have been sold. Same types still displayed in Castle Sedbergh. Consisting of item number A-331-a (helmet), item number A-331-b (gorget), item number A-331-c (breast and back) , item number A-331-d (arms), item number A-331-e (gauntlets), item number A-331-f (tassets).
If you have any questions, please send them to Wade Allen
This site last updated Sat Nov 19 12:22:24 EST 2022