Tibetan helmet

[Bob A]

Originally Posted by Timo Nieminen

One might be tempted to attribute the mis-lacing to bad restoration, but it's the standard lacing on this type of helmet. It's how they make them in the first place.

Most of these helmets are sold as antiques. They appear to be made with that intent. I'm happy to call them fakes.

My guess regarding the lacing was that the plate overlapping was done opposite the way I would expect - and the way that it exists on the other helmet illustrated. Rather disturbing that the maker should have been so clueless.

I bow to your experience and expertise regarding seller's intent. Caveat emptor, as ever.

[Timo Nieminen]

Having seen many of these offered for sale over the years, I've wondered the same thing. Doesn't seem like it would be too hard to lace them correctly. But every single one I've seen has been laced this way (the wrong way). I don't know whether they all come out of the same workshop, of whether they're copies of each other by different makers.

(I haven't been counting, but it's surely more than a dozen I've seen.)

[kronckew]

tibetan cavalry -note lamellae are laced and overlapped to guard from strikes from below. as is the properly laced helmet posted earlier. infantry lamellar armour would be laced the other way, more like roof tiles, to protect from blows from above. lamella are overlapped to increase the metal and to support the lamella next to them - distributing the force from a blow, not side by side which only presents one thickness & has weak points (gaps) at the butted edges.

[Timo Nieminen]

However, in practice, lamellar worn by infantry is still laced the same way, with the same kind of overlap (lower lamellae on the outside of the upper lamellae). Scale armour, whether worn by cavalry or infantry, overlaps the other way. Which suggests that the direction of overlap isn't a big factor in the protection.

That there is overlap matters. An arrow coming in will have to get through, typically, 2 to 4 layers of iron/steel to get through the armour.

[estcrh]

Here is the type of helmet worn by Tibetan warriors in the later periods, the type originally posted here for discussion would be from a much older period and would show its age.