Greek Helmets. with or without crests.... ??

[Giannis K. Hoplite]

I can no longer follow that discussion.

We know that crests were used, perhaps not as often as they are represented in art. But they were not really THAT uncommon. We don't have any evidence that they were a status symbol or a rank symbol.
There is some evidence that specific groups had specific colours in their crests, but still, there is no evidence that crest colour was commonly used for identification of larger groups. After all, vases show phalanxes where the hoplites have different crest colour each.

Now on the material.
We actually have real evidence for a number of materials used. The J shaped tall crests seem to have had a bronze base, like the one posted above, and like the one that Connolly shows, where a different material crest box was mounted. However, this was not a rule, because there is at least one example of a corinthian with a tall crest, where the "neck" was made of wood, held on a rectangular base.

There is no reason why leather could not have been used for the crest box. I don't know of any actual examples preserved however.

Finally, there is representational evidence for flexible crest boxes i.e. an armourer holding a crest with its "crestbox" hunging from his fingers, and the crest hungs straight down.
To complete this strange vase painting comes an actual crest from archaic Crete. A crest has recently been found that was made by weaving the tuffs of horsehair together, after wrapping their ends in linen thread. I think this find has not been published and my information comes from Christian Cameron (aka Kineas) who speke with the archeologist who excavated it. Christian has replicated this method in his J crest and it works beautifully! I plan to make such a crest two, in the future.

So we should stop being very dogmatic, because as far as we know, nothing was made in only one way!

Kyros, i am very interested on the pitch you mentioned. More info on that?

Khairete
Giannis