Imperial-Italic D helmet:question

[FlaviusCrispus]

More info please David. It's not good enough to come in and say "I've seen... ergo...".

Detail might convince.

--The unrestored iron portions had the kind of corrosion, delamination, layering and coloration that I've seen on many indisputably authentic artifacts of reputedly similar age.

--The brass work was applied over the iron skull in a manner consistant with other Roman artifacts of similar construction (brass-over-iron).

--The brass overlay has light corrosion overall consistant with the "Tiber patina" found on many Roman brass coins and objects from riverine finds (as this helmet reportedly was).

--The beading, detailing and incising on the brass work was wholly consistant with other Roman artifacts I have handled, seen in museums and studied in published reports.

--Certain details of construction (the applied brass lambdas on the neck guard, for example) are supported by similar features on helmets found or properly reconstructed later than the publication of the Guttmann specimen (Krefeld).

--The incised inscription of the owner's name is consistant with numerous other examples and the name IVLI MANSVETI has the right "feel."

--The mouse-loaf motif is obscure, a little odd and thus "rings true" in my mind.

Taken together, the preponderance of all the above adds up to an authentic artifact. This is entirely separate from the close similarity to the Nierdermormter helmet and the Italic H fragments published in Robinson and elsewhere.

I'll add that I handle Greek and Celtic helmets quite often in the course of my work, and Roman ones rarely. Quite a few fakes and "pastiches" have been breathlessly shown to me. 90% of these were very quickly identified as NG after a few seconds or minutes of inspection. A few others (usually "pastiches" combining fragments of several helmets) took a little longer, but were not that difficult to detect on close examination. I won't go into detail on the telltale signs I look for-- I don't want any potential fakers to be tipped off (not that there are any in this audience...). Suffice it to say that virtually all the fakes I've encountered almost immediately strike the wrong chord in my gut. The Guttmann mouse helmet, on the other hand, hits all the right notes.

The dimensions are also not at all wacky; after all, Celer (Julian Dendy) was able to wear it with no real difficulty. It would seem to me to be a lot easier to wear than the much deeper Neidermormter specimen.