Corbridge A Breastplates - to cross or not cross diagonally?

[Matt Lukes]

It's mainly because of the disparity between the widths of the upper back plates and the breast plates that indicates that in most cases, with respect to real artifacts, the latter must cross in order to ever meet. There's also the matter of the vertical fasteners' positions which also is often so far to the outside edge of a breast plate to require it to lie well across the chest to meet its upper girth hoop counterpart. When you add that the angle necessary for a cross causes the curve of the mid-collar plates to adopt a good-fit shape (follows the natural shape of the trapezius muscle), it makes even more sense.

Some little, more anecdotal things I've noticed about various artifacts include that at least one Corbridge A breastplate's neckline forms a nice, smooth curve when crossed with a mate (a good armor neckline), and also that if the breastplates simply met hanging vertically, the neckline of many would be restrictive to tilting the head down. Also that the angled bottom edge of the upper shoulder guard, the orientation of which is dependent on the shape of the mid-collar plate, from cuirass 3 of the Corbridge Hoard is actually horizontal when hanging at the angle of my own shoulder (at the angle of the trapezius), thus seeming to explain the reason for the shape. Also crossed breastplates form a good approximation of the usual shape of the arm holes on rigid-type armor- slightly more open at the bottom to allow the arm to cross the chest more freely.