Chain mail
 

This chain mail was a US museum aquisition in the 1920s, and was sold some years ago as they demisnished their collection raising funds for who knows what! It was described as "ottoman, modified for use in North Africa". Any comments about age and origin?

This appears to be 4-in-1 chainmaille that was common. The links seem to be made of steel so I would guess Ottoman or possibly India (less likely Persia). Not European.

Please upload a hi-res closeup of the rings. Thanks

Yes, good quality close-ups of the rings would be very useful.

Anyhow, from what I see from these photos, the chainmail appears to be simply butted not riveted.

If true, this may mean the chainmail is quite recent or, if genuinely antique, it would indicate a cheaper piece of equipment.

For reference, see the photo below:

left-riveted
right-butted

Upon more in-depth examination of the photos, I believe this is a mix of antique and modern work, containing a piece of genuine, antique chainmail (the upper part) that was completed with some modern additions.

Please have a look at the cropped photo below and you may notice the upper part (red arrows) appears to be riveted and shows significantly more age signs than the lower part (purple arrows showing a very visible difference in oxidation). Also, the lower part, or at least some parts of it, appears to be butted (yellow arrows).

Now the difference in the in the oxidation of the rings between the upper part and lower part may also be because the mail was only partially cleaned. Since the upper part has inserted leather strips, it could not be cleaned the same way like the lower part, thus retained more of its age patina/oxidation.

But then again, better close-ups of the rings can reveal much more.

Other important indicators (besides the joining technology of the rings) may be the thickness of the wire of the rings, the diameter of the rings and the surface quality of the rings.

Any difference in the thickness of the wire and/or diameter of the rings would indicate that the mail was made from two different pieces joint together.

Any difference in the surface quality of the rings would indicate that the mail is made by pieces belonging to different time periods.

Interesting comments Marius.

Did you read the first post :) : It was described as "ottoman, modified for use in North Africa".

Ps . close ups of the various rings would be nice, and probably helpfull for determination.

Best regards,
Willem

Nice catch Marius! :)

Thanks for your comments! Some close ups from ypper, middle and lower sections.

nice, looks original to me.. probably made long ago from two differnent peices. as iot says in north africa. you cna see the links are all of uneven sizes.. as in the days before nice rolls of wire things just were not so consistant.

Thank you for the close-ups!

So it is riveted. :)

And it has clear signs of age. :)

Original antique, most likely made of two pieces joined together (since the riveting part if the rings is distinctively different for the upper vs. the lower part).