The Armour Archive

I ran accross this comapny today:

MacKenzie-Smith Medieval Arms and Armor

at http://www.mackenziesmith.com/html/english_pot.html

Has anyone heard of them?

Tim

I had one of his SCA legal bascinets with interchangable bar grill & pig face.... I picked it up used and it served me well for two years or so before I got my White Mountain Armory hat.

All in all I had no complaints about it, the eyes on the pig face were a little uneven but nothing that you would notice without close examination.

hope that helps.
Will

The helms look really good, but if people are paying his price of $225 for an installed aventail, then I am definitely selling mine in the wrong places! Either that, or I am simply not charging nearly enough!

Yeah! I have heard of them. They have been around for a long time.
I didn't think they had a web presence though. Good to know. I used to shop from them by mail order....and this was maybe eight/ ten years ago. Good stuff. I may be wrong but it seems that they have popped in and out of business a time or two. I remember because I was looking to get some armour from them a while back and couldn't find them. Either that or they changed locations. But I have never heard of any dropped committments though. Very reputable outfit.

They used to be one of the big mail order armouries back in late 80's early 90's...used to advertise in TI all the time.

Says he shifted away from SCA stuf though, not as much money as other stuff.

I know the man personally. Been up to visit him and his shop. He makes some really nice stuff but a bit pricey. He had a Norman era nasal helm I drooled ALL over the day I visited. Although he's not a sword maker he also had a pattern welded Norse Sword my son fell in love with. He used to be primarily SCA but started catering to the Rennie crowd cause there was more money in it. He still will make SCA legal stuff. A good craftsman and a really nice guy.

They were one of the earliest large scale armour shops in the west, the first pro I ever came across, something like 20 years ago. Pretty cutting edge for that time, he was one of the artisans Museum Replicas used when they were still featuring real stuff by 1st world craftsmen. They used to call their legs "SCA 501's" which was great tag line.

The website has been there at least four years. I only tried contacting them once about sollerets, but did not get an answer. I think they are mentioned in TOMAR.