iron cuirass

[nKante]

NICE. I love the high collar on the quilted robe. This might be my new profile picture.

[estcrh]

There is one of these cuirasses for sale at auction currently, since there is some sort of silly rule about posting pictures of items that are for sale on the forum, if anyone wants information on it send me a message.

[Iain]

I should also mention the image illustrates a cavalryman of the Moundang people. One of the groups within the Mandara region of north Cameroon.

[Iain]

Well after quite a few years I am finally in possession of one of these. I need to do a proper photo session in the coming weeks and it needs a little clean on the inside of the cuirass but I thought some might enjoy a quick picture of it enjoying its new home with an old takouba.

[colin henshaw]

Originally Posted by Iain

Well after quite a few years I am finally in possession of one of these. I need to do a proper photo session in the coming weeks and it needs a little clean on the inside of the cuirass but I thought some might enjoy a quick picture of it enjoying its new home with an old takouba.

A good piece Iain, well done. In fact it would look nice with my chainmail hauberk

Looking forward to more pics...

[Iain]

Originally Posted by colin henshaw

A good piece Iain, well done. In fact it would look nice with my chainmail hauberk

Looking forward to more pics...

Thanks Colin, a maille hauberk is another thing on my long term list. Not easy to find one of the good old riveted ones!

I'll hopefully have time and good enough light this weekend for an extended photo session.

Hard to date these things precisely but this example shows quite a lot of age to the iron, surprisingly large as well.

[estcrh]

Originally Posted by Iain

Well after quite a few years I am finally in possession of one of these. I need to do a proper photo session in the coming weeks and it needs a little clean on the inside of the cuirass but I thought some might enjoy a quick picture of it enjoying its new home with an old takouba.

Iain, I am glad to see that I am not the only one here who invests in obscure armors!!

[TVV]

Very nice Iain, congratulations. When it comes to mail hauberks, my understanding is that they were imported to the Sahel from the Middle Eats and Europe, and it may be tricky to find a North African one unless there is some very solid provenance.

Teodor

[Iain]

Originally Posted by TVV

Very nice Iain, congratulations. When it comes to mail hauberks, my understanding is that they were imported to the Sahel from the Middle Eats and Europe, and it may be tricky to find a North African one unless there is some very solid provenance.

Teodor

Hi Teodor,

most maille in the Sahel was sourced from Egypt, other Ottoman territories, Persia or of course to some degree Europe. Bivar's Nigerian Panoply illustrates this variety nicely. So you are of course correct, by and large maille wasn't made locally and what was, at least in the case of Sudan they were making butted and not riveted maille as I recall.

Managed to take some more images, still not the best I'm afraid but the weather is playing up and not being conducive to photo sessions!

[Iain]

Originally Posted by estcrh

Iain, I am glad to see that I am not the only one here who invests in obscure armors!!

Thanks Eric, this is my first venture into the armour side of things, I guess for many armour doesn't evoke the same reaction as a sword.

[estcrh]

From George Stone.

[TVV]

I just saw this one as I was browsing Waffen aus Zentral-Afrika. Not much info given, other than the Fulbe attribution. According to the description, the edge is trimmed in leather and there is cloth padding on the inside. It was collected by Steinkopf prior to 1914.

[Iain]

Originally Posted by TVV

I just saw this one as I was browsing Waffen aus Zentral-Afrika. Not much info given, other than the Fulbe attribution. According to the description, the edge is trimmed in leather and there is cloth padding on the inside. It was collected by Steinkopf prior to 1914.

Thanks Teodor, there are another two at least in Germany the Bremen museum (this might be one of them?).

Photo is courtesy of Wolf.

I am not sure where the one from Stone has ended up.

With mine, the next step is going to be a deep cleaning, some exploratory work has revealed that there is in fact extensive dark rust with red rust hiding underneath. So its going to get a good going over with metal -de-corroder and then a polish.

[Iain]

Just a small update, my cuirass has had a bit of a better clean and wax. Quite pleased with the result!

[Kubur]

Beautifull!
it's amazing to see how the Roman armour lorica segmenta survived in sub saharan Africa probably through transsaharan roads..

[Iain]

Originally Posted by Kubur

Beautifull!
it's amazing to see how the Roman armour lorica segmenta survived in sub saharan Africa probably through transsaharan roads..

The construction is quite different. There's no evidence I'm aware of there's a relation.