Armour, European (2)

£1,250.00
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A Continental Harquebusiers Breastplate, Circa 1640.
This heavy shot-proof breastplate is hammer-finished, and has the classic blue-black ("russet") colour given to armour at the time. It has the usual form for a harquebusier breastplate of the mid 17th century, with a keel running down the centre, terminating in a blunt 'tapul', with a flange forged out out around the waist. The partial outward turns at the neck and armpits are what identify this piece as probably German, although by 1650, the English armourer Richard Holden was also applying this technique to heavy shot-proof breastplates, as can be seen on a breastplate with reinforcing plackart, recently sold from the collection of Dr Peter Parsons. This breastplate is one of very many pieces imported into England at the outset of the Civil Wars, when both ides were desperate for munitions to equip the armies they were raising.

This particular piece was found in Ireland. Parliament had planned to re-conquer Ireland since 1641 and had already sent an invasion force there in 1647. Cromwell led a Parliamentry invasion of Ireland from 1649-50, angainst English Royalist and Irish Catholic forces, a campaign infamous for the sieges of Drogheda and Wexford. The campaign carried on for three years after his departure. 

Marks:
On the exterior, at the throat, an armourer's mark of what appears to be a five-pointed star within an oval cartouche. On the left side of the chest, two (or possibly three) letters chiselled into the surface, being 'HC' or 'IHC'. On the inside, the letters 'H' and 'C' are chiselled into the left and right shoulders respectively. Beside the letter 'C' is the batch mark 2, marked as two dots. 

The letters chiselled into the exterior and interior surfaces are an ownership mark, being the initials of the name of the trooper who wore the breastplate. The letters on the exterior appear at first to be 'IHC', but the upright 'I' could have been an abortive first try at the 'H', since only the letters 'H' and 'C' appear on the inside of the shoulders. A more elaborate example of a breastplate bearing the name of its owner is in the Royal Armouries (Class III, 4550) struck: 'MILLIAM MILDMAY' (for William Mildway).

The two dots struck next to the letter 'C' inside the right shoulder are a batch mark, indicating that this breastplate was number 2 in a series made by the armourer. 

Dimensions:
Weight: in excess of 4.5 Kg

19001