I have recently been reading through D'Amato & Sumner "Arms and Armour of the Imperial Roman Soldier" and came across this "attic" helmet held in the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg. I am already aware of "fakes" such as the Toledo helmet, however I am interested to know if anyone has further information on this specific example or any theories regarding its authenticity. Any insight would be highly appreciated.
From what I recall - completely unprovenanced, supposedly found in Germany 'some time in the 20th century', looks unlike any other Roman helmet known from archaeology, strongly resembles Victorian ideas of what Roman helmets looked like, and has a weird bowl welded together down the middle.
All things considered, most probably a 19th C fake, but nobody knows for sure.
Thank you for your replies and apologies for perhaps flogging a dead horse, so to speak. I imagined due to the odd features described by Mr Ross that it would likely be a fake, which is unfortunate, however I am surprised at the sheer lack of information we have on the piece.
"and has a weird bowl welded together down the middle."
What makes you think that? certainly it not possible to tell from the photo, it looks like patinated bronze in the pic and if this is the case I would suggest its a heavily altered/restored Negauer helm using a lot of wishfull thinking and probably referencing roman art like Trajans Column, the detail decoration on the front piece is also reminicent of an earlier time perhaps early iron age and may not be part of the original... theres been several helmets that follow the same theme and all appear to be old/unprovenanced "finds"..
(04-04-2019, 11:34 AM)Crispianus Wrote: "bowl welded together down the middle." What makes you think that?
It was another thing I remember reading about this helmet, I think on the RAT thread mentioned above which has now vanished (this one). I don't know who made the point or whether they were relying on anything other than observation!
Yes, it may be a poor reconstruction, or a helmet for a statue, or just a pretty poor fake. No way of telling as far as I'm aware.
(04-06-2019, 03:50 PM)Nathan Ross Wrote: It was another thing I remember reading about this helmet, I think on the RAT thread mentioned above which has now vanished (this one).
I noticed that the original post had been removed, possibly causing the thread to become invisible. Is it back now?
(04-07-2019, 05:40 PM)Robert Vermaat Wrote: Is it back now?
Yes but no pictures, unfortunately.