Scale armor

A Senefelder · 2nd March 2011, 07:10 PM

I agree with Ward, pics of the back would be of assistance. If this is a theatrical piece it is of high quality. The scales have been curved to i'm guessing about 3-4 degrees which is consistant with some later historical examples i've seen ( the one that comes to mind is a 17th century Polish scale cuirass in a small art museum in Baltimore ). This curvature is to increase the strength of the scales via introducing the geometry of the curve, a step that would have been uneccessary for a theatrical piece as play goers would never have noticed nor would likely have cared.

The Spanish were the most heavily armoured Europeans in the Americas so its certainly not out of the realm of possibility for a Spanish attributation if in fact the piece is legitimate. A friend of my fathers in New Mexico was an avid collector of colonial Spanish arms and armour. He had a wide range of contacts in the southwest and aquired most of his pieces from the individuals who found them. If I recall correctly he had portions of what he believed was a scale horse barding found in the southwest as part of his collection. I will ask my father if my recollection of this is correct.

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2nd March 2011, 07:10 PM	#4
A Senefelder Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 214	I agree with Ward, pics of the back would be of assistance. If this is a theatrical piece it is of high quality. The scales have been curved to i'm guessing about 3-4 degrees which is consistant with some later historical examples i've seen ( the one that comes to mind is a 17th century Polish scale cuirass in a small art museum in Baltimore ). This curvature is to increase the strength of the scales via introducing the geometry of the curve, a step that would have been uneccessary for a theatrical piece as play goers would never have noticed nor would likely have cared. The Spanish were the most heavily armoured Europeans in the Americas so its certainly not out of the realm of possibility for a Spanish attributation if in fact the piece is legitimate. A friend of my fathers in New Mexico was an avid collector of colonial Spanish arms and armour. He had a wide range of contacts in the southwest and aquired most of his pieces from the individuals who found them. If I recall correctly he had portions of what he believed was a scale horse barding found in the southwest as part of his collection. I will ask my father if my recollection of this is correct.