Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 1).djvu/124

This page needs to be proofread.

Fig. 63. Helmet of iron plated with gold

Found in 1896 at Guilanova, south of Ancona. Zeughaus, Berlin

antiquity than the period with which we are now supposed to be dealing; indeed we can go as far as to quote a helmet of almost similar construction in the British Museum, the eighth helmet in our list (Fig. 61), which has been assigned by the museum authorities to a period between the VIth and IXth centuries, and is stated to be Sassanian and probably from Van. Strongly endorsing this view as to the age of this type of conical head-piece, we can quote from a learned treatise by Herr von Ubisch, keeper of the Zeughaus, Berlin, on the helmet (Fig. 63), who heads his description of it: "A Langobard (Lombard) helmet of the first half of the VIIth century." Herr Ubisch brings forward as evidence as to the age of such helmets a gold plate in the museum of the Bargello, Florence (Fig. 62), which in itself is that portion of the encircling band from a helmet, shaped to fit above the eyes. It is embossed with figures wearing helmets of exactly the same type as these under discussion. The central figure on this gold plate has the name Agilulf inscribed level with the head. The appearance of this name