shield boss question

[Cephas23]

How well finished or refined was the typical shield boss? I have mine roughed out and planished, but thought about leaving in the small facets with fire-scale. The commercially available bosses seem to be highly polished.

[jkaler48]

It looks like that Roman soldiers tried to make their gear as nice as possible within their means. So a shield boss might be polished, tinned or silvered, or decorated in various ways and styles. If you are going for an impression of a soldier while on active campaign the polish on a plain boss might not be as nice as in garrison. An unpolished boss might be issued
to a recruit but surely there would be many hours of polishing work ahead.

[Matthew Amt]

I'd say it should shine like the helmet and armor. Otherwise they would not have bothered with the brightly painted face, brass rims, etc.

Vale,

Matthew

[Cephas23]

I was afraid you were going to say that. My elbow is already hurting, but many thanks for the replies!