Half of a Morion

[Jim McDougall]

Thanks Fernando!
I guess that is in a sense a 'cuera', literally. While leather versions of armor, much evolved from brigandines clearly evolved in the America's early, even in the earliest explorations, these were widely varied, and fashioned from layers of various rawhides stitched together.

The 'buff' coats as seen here, were also in use in England and elsewhere in Europe in this same manner, often under a cuirass.
The 'cuera' I was seeking an example of, then at the request of a small museum, was the form illustrated in the attached photos. The leather example (front and back) was a typical form used through the 18th century in the North American Southwest frontiers. This is I believe the one held in Madrid.
The depiction of the mounted soldado is with a shorter jacket version c. 1820s of the type found in the Smithsonian.

It was during this search that the unusual example I ended up researching was discovered in Arizona. It is believed that it had ended up with Comanchero traders and filtered through trades, finally falling into the hands of a guy in Arizona who eventually built a private museum. It was in deplorable condition, collapsed, and painstakingly restored. What was unique about it was that it was of cuir boulli, rather than the rawhide type, and in a classical form.

The cuera seem to have evolved from these buff type liners which effectively buffered the mail, which was far more common than the steel cuirass.
With mail, it however quickly deteriorated without proper maintainance, and was terribly ineffective against arrows which spread and broke the rings, especially if corroded and brittle. Soon the mail was discarded, and the leather took over. It seems much the same in degree with some helmet forms.

Interestingly, I have seen morions made in 17th c Italy of leather.