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Crosby-Garrett a fake?
#16
Some excellent points Dr. Bishop! If you do a podcast on this do let us know. I'd love to hear it. Cannot wait to make it back to the UK to get a look at it in the British Museum. They have been doing a great deal of work lately on the medieval section which they finished right after I left sadly I also would love to see.

CAC/Randall Moffett
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#17
Hello Dr. Bishop,

Sorry for the late response. For some reason I did not receive an update to my email about other posts.

So the Vize cavalry helmet would be a sports helmet and not worn in battle since it is made completely of copper alloy and not iron with some sort of covering?
However, this helmet does have hair beaten into the bowl and has a scene of Scylla thrashing a boat while men a fleeing away. Also there are figures on the cheek pieces. Exactly all the criteria for a battle helmet minus the material.

I would agree with the Haltern helmet having the features of the Xanthen helmet you posted.
"You have to laugh at life or else what are you going to laugh at?" (Joseph Rosen)


Paolo
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#18
Quote:So the Vize cavalry helmet would be a sports helmet and not worn in battle since it is made completely of copper alloy and not iron with some sort of covering?
However, this helmet does have hair beaten into the bowl and has a scene of Scylla thrashing a boat while men a fleeing away. Also there are figures on the cheek pieces. Exactly all the criteria for a battle helmet minus the material.
Actually, if you look closely, the cheek-pieces on the Vize example are integral with the mask. It's a trompe l'oeil by the helmet maker (who clearly had a sense of humour) and it is otherwise a standard two-piece face-mask helmet.

Mike Bishop
You know my method. It is founded upon the observance of trifles

Blogging, tweeting, and mapping Hadrian\'s Wall... because it\'s there
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#19
I forgotten the magazine, but several years ago there was a very detailed article on this helmet and its restoration. I didn't buy it the time because it was a 15 dollar magazine! There were lots of photos showing it as found and during steps of the restoration process. The blog is wrong on all points...it wasn't restored in secret. The damage looked to have been done buy human hands folding it up..not the weight of the soil. The restorer replaced the missing parts (and very damaged areas) by making molds of the good parts of the helmet and making perfect resin casts to fit in (along with some skillful paint work). 240 hrs seems to be a very reasonable time frame using this technique. He did a masterful job. I really regret not buying it.
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#20
Micah.
I would like very much to know which magazine you are referring to with detailed account of the restoration of this helmet for most of this work carried out was a bit cloak and dagger without much detail and since then the conservator Darren Bradbury appears to have gone to earth.

Then having said that I must again repeat an earlier post where I considered that the griffin does not belong on this helmet and still consider that as such, however it had to be fitted by Christies for not to have done so would indicate that the whole thing was in fact a hoard of bronze to be re-cycled for it does show that it was all destroyed before it was buried.
Brian Stobbs
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#21
Quote:I would like very much to know which magazine you are referring to with detailed account of the restoration of this helmet for most of this work carried out was a bit cloak and dagger without much detail and since then the conservator Darren Bradbury appears to have gone to earth.
I think the magazine in question was probably British Archaeology 116 for Jan/Feb 2011 (here it is sans pictures).

Darren Bradbury's elusiveness is all part of the myth that is building around this helmet, largely boosted by bloggers with their own agendas. I had no trouble contacting him.


Quote:Then having said that I must again repeat an earlier post where I considered that the griffin does not belong on this helmet and still consider that as such, however it had to be fitted by Christies for not to have done so would indicate that the whole thing was in fact a hoard of bronze to be re-cycled for it does show that it was all destroyed before it was buried.
I see no reason to doubt that the griffin belongs with the helmet. Again, this is bluster from the conspiracy theorists for which there is no evidence. It is shaped to match the top of the helmet and the EXIF data on the photos taken upon discovery puts the sequence only minutes apart. Soldered crest fittings are not unknown on Roman helmets. However, I quite agree that the whole thing is likely to have been scrapped for recycling.

As I've said before, the more elaborate the supposed conspiracy becomes, the less likely it is to be true. As ever, Occam's Razor wins.

Anyway, all will out with the final publication :-)

Mike Bishop
You know my method. It is founded upon the observance of trifles

Blogging, tweeting, and mapping Hadrian\'s Wall... because it\'s there
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