The Crosby Garrett helmet

[Caballo]

Looking at the pictures, was seems to be the right word.

Isn't lost in restoration a bit of a contradiction...?

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Is that not a rivet hole just to the right of the suppoet stand in your photo Caballo? Top of the mask.

[mcbishop]

According to the original lot description (conveniently quoted :

A ROMAN BRONZE CAVALRY PARADE HELMET CIRCA LATE 1ST-2ND CENTURY A.D.
Composed of two sections, helmet and mask; the tinned bronze face-mask with idealised youthful features, the openwork eyes with irises formed of delicate perforated rings, the upper and lower lids with incised lashes, the eyebrows arching from the bridge of the nose to the hairline with incised herringbone detail, the nostrils pierced, the fleshy lips slightly parted, with filtrum indicated, the face framed by three rows of tight corkscrew curls, the individual strands finely incised, the lower edge with remains of iron rivets on either side, probably for attachment of a strap for fastening to the helmet; the bronze helmet in the form of a Phrygian-style cap, with curved tip, surmounted by a solid-cast griffin, on an integral base, seated on its haunches, with finely incised details of the fur and mane, an attachment loop on the back of the neck, his wings outstretched with incised feather detail, his right paw raised and resting on the rim of a fluted amphora, an oval recess below with pierced loop at the tip, the back edge of the cap delineated by a raised ridge, curling inwards at the corners, terminating in incised button finals and decorated with pairs of vertical lines bordered by tongues, a row of hair curls emerging from underneath, the back and sides of the cap decorated with five rosettes, with groups of punched dots at the tips of the petals, with narrow flaring neck-guard, pierced in the centre and left corner, the perimeter decorated with incised diagonal dashes and tongues, with original hinge for attachment to the face-mask, mounted 16 in. (40.7 cm.) high

) there was a hinge.

Umm, hang on, I just inserted a URL - how did that end up as a quote?! :?

Mike Bishop

[D B Campbell]

Unless I've completely lost the plot (entirely likely) , there was a "just excavated pic" of the helmet which seems to have dropped off the thread.

Afaik, nobody ever saw it "just excavated" -- that's part of the mystery! :wink:

[Caballo]

The pic that was on this thread called "just excavated" or such like showed the face mask, with a hole in the chin, held in two hands. The pic looked as if it had been taken by a mobile camera. The pic is now not on the thread, for some unknown reason.......And even more mysteriously, the pics from the Portable Antiquities site , supposedly pre restoration show an intact chin. Though the area where a hole had existed looks different. Watson, the game's afoot!

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Looking at the pictures on the remaining link with it in parts, you ca nsee the restoration of the chin area, looks like there wasa massive hole in the chin.

Was there grass in the background of the picture you are thinking of, by any chance?

[Caballo]

Not sure, Byron. but someone on RAT must have taken a copy, hopefully? I don't understand how there can be one pic with a hole in the chin (just excavated) and the PAS pics show a clearly restored chin. Perhaps that Is why the first pic was taken down, as it indicates that the helmet restoration had already begun when PAS were brought in. Which itself indicates that the helmet was found some time before the PAS were brought in. So where and when was it actually found?

[D B Campbell]

Curiouser and curiouser ...

[MARCvSVIBIvSMAvRINvS]

Just found this... quite appropriate...



Btw the photo i recall was from the helmet bowl being in fragments and entirely flattened and crinkled.. still looking online for those pics...

M.VIB.M.

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Well, I recall that too, but there is one in the first page of the thread showing it flattened.
My memory is seeing another one as well though...... :? ? or is it playing tricks on me.....

[D B Campbell]

Found it (in Adrian's link to http://www.finds.org.uk/database/artefa ... /id/404767 ):
[attachment=0:3scindhq]<!-- ia0 CrosbyGarrettFind.jpg<!-- ia0 [/attachment:3scindhq]
(I hadn't originally followed the links, so I never saw this first time around. :oops: )

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

I've already mentioned that Duncan. I don't think it's the same one Caballo is referring to.

[Caballo]

Byron, you are right. It was a different pic of the face mask.

[Caballo]

More info- from the magazine Minerva, November / December issue:-
It was conserved by Darren Bradbury who is quoted as saying " The Crosby Garett helmet must be within the top five most impressive artefacts that I have ever worked on. However, having been found on British soil, this is most important historically and to me personally. The mask was incredibly intact with just minor damage to the surrounding locks of hair and the chin , where only a handful of fragments had broken away ( see my RAT post earlier re the photo, now removed, of the mask when excavated). The helmet however was in a flattened and crushed state and in 30 fragments. As restoration progressed, the true shape of the helmet, an impressive Phyrgian-style cap, became apparent. Once reworked, the helmet and mask only required light removal of earth to reveal a fine surface patina. It really is a privilege to have been involved with such a truly magnificent object."

[last_roman]

It was mentioned in the previous posts that the helmet looks Bulgarian/of Balcan origin and it is interesting to note that of the six known helmets of the Silistra-Type (to which the mask would belong [in Junkelmann's typology, part of Robinson's CSB]) two are from Bulgaria (Chatalka-CSB12 and Silistra-CSB06), two said to be from Bulgaria (Ex-Guttmann AG 449 and AG 813 [CSB08]), one from Serbia (Smederovo-CSB25) and one from the Netherlands (Roomburgh-CSB07).

Here is some pics of Roman helmet with mask from Chatalka /now exposed in Historical Museum of Stara Zagora/: