Lobster Tail Helmet

[kronckew]

Ah, not stiffners then. Could they be for attaching a padded lining? Ear flaps were I gather, frequently padded along with the suspension/padding for the main part of the head.

[fernando]

Originally Posted by kronckew

... Could they be for attaching a padded lining? Ear flaps were I gather, frequently padded along with the suspension/padding for the main part of the head.

Well, at a certain stage in one of these helmets description in the Web, it reads:
"... and the neck guard is stamped from a single piece of metal to simulate an articulated version. The edges, retaining rivets, were originally used to secure the lining... "
So ...

[Helleri]

Did anyone notice the shoddily torn section of visor that the nose guard is shoved through?

[kronckew]

Originally Posted by Helleri

Did anyone notice the shoddily torn section of visor that the nose guard is shoved through?

Impact damage? The whole helmet is a bit fragile looking now.

[Helleri]

Originally Posted by kronckew

Impact damage? The whole helmet is a bit fragile looking now.

Yeah...Bar is skewed too. Downward blow at an angle that caught the bar? It's got that through nick in the side as well. There is a longer shallower mark that looks like it just managed to split metal right next to that pierce. And a ding on the back that shows as especially bright discoloration on the underside picture (in the dome itself lower lobe). Seams don't look as tight as they probably should be (like they got loosened). Definitely looks like this thing went through at least one good fight. And that there wasn't even an obvious attempt at repair. Maybe that's all it was meant to do. Keep one person alive through one or two encounters. It served it's purpose and was retired? Maybe someone figured they'd fix it someday but the immediate need to never arose? Seems like there is a story there which we can only speculate about. Even so, the empirical evidence does say quite a lot.

[kronckew]

Originally Posted by Helleri

... Definitely looks like this thing went through at least one good fight. And that there wasn't even an obvious attempt at repair. Maybe that's all it was meant to do. Keep one person alive through one or two encounters. It served it's purpose and was retired? ...

Bit like our modern kevlar body armour & it's ceramic insert plates. Made to keep you alive once, then replaced when the kevlar is damaged and the ceramic plate is cracked.

[Helleri]

Originally Posted by kronckew

Bit like our modern kevlar body armour & it's ceramic insert plates. Made to keep you alive once, then replaced when the kevlar is damaged and the ceramic plate is cracked.

The nice thing about sectional armor (as apposed to mono-pieces) is that you can likely have replaced just a brim, lobe, a few rivets or a band relatively quickly (and I'd imagine inexpensively). I wouldn't even doubt it if an armor smith who may very well crank out 10 just like this during a relatively busy couple of days might have ready made components for doing just that.

But looking closer at it. This thing has damage to nearly every section. Some of that damage is within what might be the tolerance of still usable. But so much would have to be replaced on this helmet to bring it back up to like new condition that the original owner may have just opted to get a new helmet. There has to be a point of diminishing returns on repair jobs after all.