Allen Antiques

These are the Mail in the Allen study collection.
European Shirt of mail

European Shirt of mail 15th century

Most of a shirt of mail. One sleeve missing. It may have been cut away to form a gusset. The remains of the shirt have very nice details. The shirt includes a standing collar formed of heavier rings. The wire from which these rings were formed is thicker than the main body rings and the overlap for the rivet is even larger. This makes it stiff enough to stand up and protect the neck. The remaining sleeve is short. It does not seem to be due to loss. There are a few brass rings at the lower edge showing that the original form remains. The bottom edge is asymetric. The back is shorter than the front. There is a central slit in the front. Rings with noticable swelling at the rivet. The rings are vaguely triangular in section. The inside is flat, the front is beveled slightly throughout the ring, more aggresively at the rivet overlap. Some rings obviously attached with wedge rivets, others not as clear. The inside of the rivet is flush with the body of the ring, the outside forms a nice head. Brass rings at the bottom edge have iron rivets.

Not for sale.

Piece of Mail

Piece of Mail 16th century

Piece of Mail labeled as German. Small brass borders. Wedge rivets.

Not for sale.

European Mail collar

European Mail collar 16th century

Mail Collar. Formed of very small rings (app. 1/8 inch i.d.) of round cross section. Taper formed by the addition of a triangular gusset in the middle. 6 1/2 inches tall. Body of rivetted rings. Wedge rivets. Border of 3 rows of brass rings - 2 of solid punched rings and one riveted. Formerly in the collection of Leonard Heinrich - armourer to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY.

Not for sale.

Piece of Mail

Piece of Mail 16th century

Piece of Mail. Rings of round cross section except at the overlap. All rings rivetted. Wedge rivets.

Not for sale.

European Mail Shirt

European Mail Shirt 16th century

Shirt of mail. 16th century, likely German. Long sleeves. Rings of flattened form. Slight swells at the rivets. Wedge rivets. A band of smaller rings around the neck. Open at the front. Overall formed of alternating rows of solid and riveted rings. A band at the front on each side formed of all riveted rings. Rings in the body app. 5/16 in. i.d., often forming slight ovals instead of perfect circles. The smaller rings at the neck app. 3/16 in. i.d. The "collar" formed of 11 rows of small links and one row of normal sized rings at the border. App. half of the sleeves formed of somewhat heavier all riveted rings with cruder rivets. Careful inspection shows that this sleeve extension has been added with butted rings and is closed by a row of butted rings so this was almost certainly added after the working life of the shirt. Significant losses. Round brass collection tag with "707".

Not for sale.

piece of mail

piece of mail 16th century

Piece of mail. 16th century, likely German. Alternating rows of riveted and solid rings. Flattish form with swelling at the rivet. Watershed form on both sides of the rivet overlap. Rivet heads pronounced on the outside and flush on the inside. Rivets seem to be wedge shaped. Some losses. 10 1/2 in tall, 35 in. wide with the mail stretched wide. Rings vary slightly in size, in general 1/4 in. and slightly larger inside diameter. Solid rings vary in cross section - some very thin, some more washer-like. Some of the solid rings seem to have some flats on the outer edge as if they were punched from sheet and sometimes a ring overalapped the edge of a previous ring. Includes at least one spot near a current hole that includes 2 rings that appear to be working life repairs. They are in a solid row and show distinct round rivets.

Not for sale.

Mail shirt

Mail shirt 17th century

Mail Shirt, probably Eastern European. Formed of varying size and thickness rings. The rings over the chest are much heavier than those in the skirt and sleeves. Formed of alternate rows of riveted and solid rings. The rings are 3/8in i.d. The rings at the chest are much thicker than those at the edges. The rings have a roughly "wankel" cross section. App. 31 inches long. Opens down the entire front. Details show rings from the collar, chest and skirt.

Not for sale.

Mail shirt

Mail shirt 18th-19th century

Mail Shirt, eastern (probably). Small rings (app 1/4 inch i.d.) of round cross section. Overlaps heavily swelled and rivets set flush to ring surface. The torn rings show that the rivets were wedge shaped. 44 inches long. Neck opening includes a small slit in the front where there is overlapped mail.

Not for sale.

Maker

Maker"s ring circa ?

Maker"s mark ring from a shirt of european mail.

Not for sale.

Piece of Mail

Piece of Mail circa ?

Piece of mail.

Not for sale.

Piece of Mail

Piece of Mail circa ????

Piece of Mail

Not for sale.

Piece of Mail

Piece of Mail circa ????

Small piece of Mail. Each ring stamped with parallel lines. Wedge rivets of brass.

Not for sale.




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If you have any questions, please send them to Wade Allen

This site last updated Sun Sep 14 10:39:21 EDT 2008