Thoughts on burgonet construction

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by 10thRoyal

You make a good point. I didn't pay a huge amount for it so I could probably make a couple bucks on it, but I won't be adding it to my collection. As for a learning material its not half bad. More than the "metal helmet" it was marked as, less than 16th century burgonet I hoped it was. Still just learning one step at a time.

Now learn me this, what are the painted letters on the ears? Now I am just plain curious.

And thank y'all for the input and expertise.

10th,
A lot of these items are not only baronial smoking room decorations, but often can be theatrical props. There was quite an industry of making these costume and prop items in the Victorian period, and before the use of plastics etc. many of these were quite well made.
The letters and numbers may have been administrative and/or inventory numbers etc.
I have researched a number of items which had all appearances of authenticity which turned out to be in this category.
These still make great decorators, and as often noted, they are still antiques in their own right.
Many of the Victorian reproductions by Ernst Schmidt of Munich were so well done they ended up in museums.

I think you could turn this by representing it in accord with its genuine antiquity as there are collectors who are interested in this type items.

As for the Schmidt arms, there was a book put out years ago by Mowbray publishing on 'The Atelier of Ernst Schmidt of Munich' (1967)which was a history and catalog of his works which compared his items to the authentic pieces they were modelled after. This offers a great learning tool for recognizing authentic items and the nuances in differences. I think Amazon might have it.