Deepeeka helmets and drooping crests...

[Matthew Amt]

Yes I agree with you too Marsh, but spending hundreds of dollars on something and then making it deliberately sloppy just isn't right

Ha, you just proved our point! You're saying that you would pay more for a *less* accurate helmet--you SHOULD be more willing to spend more for an item which is MORE accurate! (I realize you were speaking at least partly in jest, but you played into my hands so beautifully!) Though it should be possible for a custom armorer to charge a little less if he doesn't have to be so perfect and careful.

I wish there was more than one copy of the Gallic G left. I often wonder just HOW identical they were, bearing in mind the roughness of this one that is left.

Well, if you look through Robinson, you'll see that Gallic G is a LOT like Gallic F, only with *slightly* wider eyebrows (not as wide as on most repros) and squarer cheekpieces. Robinson shows 3 Gallic F helmets, and I know there is at least one or two more. They are all darn similar in shape and general details. There are also 3 or 4 Gallic E helmets, all very similar, and Gallic H matches them except for the slope of the neckguard. The fragments from Colchester could match any of those helmets, easily. The distinctive details of the 3 Gallic A helmets that I've seen are startlingly close to each other, yet distinct from most any other Gallic helmet.

Certainly they weren't concerned about the exact placement of a rivet, or details like that. But they were very much stuck in fashion ruts. A workshop might crank out a couple dozen helmets day after day, all the same style, yet with numerous little differences in details. But there'd be no reason for them to suddenly make a helmet with 4 occipital ridges when all the others had 3.

I don't know where it will go w/ Deepeeka -- if you ask Dan, he will admit they don't much worry about changing stuff as it is making money now...

Right, only a very tiny percentage of their customer base is made of reenactors who actually care about such details. When they tried to discontinue their "trooper" helmet, their vendors howled because it was their hottest item. So no incentive to change!

Valete,

Matthew