The Armour Archive

A short while back somebody made a referance to a old suits of maille with letters stamped into the rings. Can anybody supply me with a url or some sort of documents or even pics of this? Thanks in advance.

------------------
Fear the wrath of a patient man.

Osprey's Viking Warriors has a close up picture of some riveted mail which has a ring like this. The caption reads:

Although from considerably later than the viking period, this section of mail shirt is a good example of riveting and linking of rings. The oversize ring in the centre is the maker's signature ring and is made of copper alloy. (Royal Armouries, Tower of London)

Is information on maker's rings what you are looking for?

Shane

Examples can be found in "armourer and his craft" as well as at least two of the three AAoMK books.

To my knowledge there is only one original example of a full viking maille hauberk...and it is not in any state to have the rings read. I would say the example pictured is definately of a later period.


The maille of some little tzaravitch or other in the Kremlin has every ring acid etched and/or engraved with prayers for "god to protect the tzar" etc....
EVRY RING!

Scary.


Sasha

I have heard of the signature ring before although i have never seen a pic of one. The suit you describe Sasha may be the one i had heard of before. There also seemed to be a referance to a parade shirt (greek?). If I can collect enough data I may attempt to make a section of lettered rings.




------------------
Fear the wrath of a patient man.

While doing research for Pentathlon in Caid, I was corresponding with an Armor Keeper at the Roayal Armourie at Leeds. I ordered some photos from them of the European mail in their collection, and one of the photos has some sort of inscription in three of the shown rings. I had heard of inscription on rings in Arabic mail, but never heard of it in European mail. The Armor Keeper's reply was: "Yes, there are often links with inscriptions incorporated in European mail, either referring to the makers or talismanic
ones <Tonwen's comment- talismanic measn referring to inscriptions intended to protect the wearer or similar>. Unfortunately those on IV.470's aventail <the aventail they sent me a picture of> are not legible (as they so often are not. See my 'The Archibald
hauberk', Royal Armouries Yearbook 4 (1999), 29-31 for a summary of all these <referring to an article he wrote on the subject- the author is Thom Richardson>.


------------------
-Tonwen
Gyldenholt, Caid

[This message has been edited by Tonwen (edited 08-14-2001).]

Hmmm... not all of my message posted in my reply. The author of the above mentioned article and the Armor Keeper I was corresponding with is Thom Richardson.

------------------
-Tonwen
Gyldenholt, Caid

I don`t know if this helps, but I seem to remember a shirt at The Higgins Armory Museum in Worcester MA. having rings that looked embossed, kind of like they were cast. Also not sure, but I think the shirt was of Eastern origin, not European.
John

------------------
"and the springfieldians heroicly slaughtered there enemys while they prayed for mercy!"

I wish to thank all of you for your input. The copper or brass "Armorer's Rings “ I have heard of before but have yet to view. I have also gathered a few more hints the begin my search:

Maille shirt - German - circa 1450
A Brass Ring stamped with BERNART COUWEIN
Stamped Ring is larger than steel rings
probably about 1.5 x the ring size.
It's in the Wallace Collection

The maille of some little tzaravitch or other in the Kremlin has every ring acid etched and/or engraved with prayers for "god to protect the tzar" etc....
EVERY RING!

Reference to a Greek parade skirt with every ring stamped.

I hope the make a die and stamp setup that will both flatten and stamp or stamp after flattening. If successful I may make dies with several different sayings on them to mix into the piece.

Again thank you for your help and if anybody finds a pic or URL please let me know.


------------------
Fear the wrath of a patient man.

Let us know how it comes out.

------------------
Baron Arland the Bastard
http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/rivetedmaille

You might try contacting Frederick the Heavy here on the board - he has done some stamping work on his maille.

G--