Spangenhelm Two-Part Helmet

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TimeLine Auctions - Antiquities Sale - Day 1

By TimeLine Auctions Limited

Feb 26, 2019

Set Reminder 2019-02-26 05:00:00 2019-02-26 05:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : TimeLine Auctions - Antiquities Sale - Day 1 https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/timeline-auctions-limited/timeline-auctions---antiquities-sale---day-1-3821
Auction Venue: The May Fair Hotel London Stratton Street Mayfair London, W1J 8LT Viewing from noon Monday 25th February 2019 Champagne Reception: 6pm - 9pm Tuesday 26th February 2019 (Day 1) 10am : Lots 1 - 660 TimeLine Auctions Limited enquiries@timelineauctions.com

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• Lot Description
  8th-11th century AD. A Viking or Norman circular two-plate iron helmet, skillfully made to accommodate the curvature of the human head and with a point at the apex; contoured so that the top and bottom plates overlap 1-2cm, with iron rivets passing through this overlap to secure them in position; the rivets worked flat into the surface of the helmet, almost invisible from the outside but detectable on the inner surface; the lower rim furnished with an additional series of rivets, probably to accommodate a lining; two attacment loops at the base of either side, where the cheek-plates were originally attached; the plate-junction at the apex with loop, allowing a plume or horsehair streamer to be inserted, or a conical covering plate to be attached. See Curtis, H. M., 2,500 Years of European Helmets, North Hollywood, 1978; Denny, N. & Filmer-Sankey, J., The Bayeux Tapestry, London, 1966; Kirpicnikow, A. N., Russische Helme aus dem Frahen Mittelalter Waffen- und Kostamkunde, 3rd Series, Vol. 15, pt. 2, 1973; Menghin, W. The Merovingian Period - Europe Without Borders, Berlin, 2007, p.326-7, item I.34.4. 836 grams, 20.5cm high (8"). Property of an Essex collector; formerly in an old private collection formed in the 1980s. Authenticated by I. Eaves, Arms and Armour Consultant; and accompanied by a positive five page report of metallurgic analytical results, written by Metallurgist Dr. Brian Gilmour of the Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, University of Oxford. Helmets of this general profile and with some form of conical crest are a long-lived military fashion in the Black Sea region, and appear in designs on the bone facing of a Khazar saddle of 7th-8th century date from the Shilovskiy gravefield (Samara region); a similar helmet (of presumed 5th century AD date) is housed in the St. Petersburg Museum (inventory reference PA72), previously in the MVF Berlin until 1945 under inventory ref.IIId 1789i. The rivetted-plate construction was employed across Europe from the Migration Period through to the 12th century: it is this form which appears on the heads of English and Norman warriors in the Bayeux tapestry.

  Condition

  Fair 'as found' condition. Very rare as a two conical plate example.
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