278). It has, unfortunately, suffered from rough handling and too vigorous cleaning—at least from a collector's point of view; but as an example of its type it is remarkable. It will be noticed that the skull-piece is of the egg-shaped form which is associated with the bascinets of the first half of the XIVth century. The lower edge of the helmet has been slightly damaged, and appears to have been altered from the original design. At a distance of half an inch from the lower edge runs the series of holes by which the lining was held; they are unusually large, and somewhat clumsily drilled. One of the most arresting features of the helmet is the formation of the staples made to retain the camail in position: they are cylindrical and fully an inch long. The visor is raised on a somewhat roughly made hinge in the centre of the forehead, the plate of which is attached by two rivets to the skull-piece. The small ocularia, which have serrated edges, protrude from the visor, and the provision made for respiration is on the same principle. This helmet shows the curious small triangular plates fixed edgeways round the lower part of the skull-piece and just above the staples for the camail, which, in the opinion of the Baron de Cosson, were added for the purpose of deflecting a downward blow which might otherwise damage the attachment of the camail to the helmet. In the Poldi Pezzoli Museum at Milan can be seen two bascinet helmets which once possessed visors attached by a forehead hinge. They are both much perished by rust, but we illustrate the better of the two (Fig. 279). On both helmets there remain round the base of the skull-pieces those curious triangular plates fixed edgeways which we have just referred to in the case of the Barry bascinet.
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Fig. 283. Visored bascinet, late XIVth century
Formerly in the castle of Herr von Hulshoff, near Munster. Now in the Metropolitan Museum of New York. Front view, showing the dome-like shape of the skull-piece
Another very interesting visored bascinet is to be found at the Tower of London armoury (Fig. 280, a, b). The visor of this example may claim the latter part of the XIVth century as the period of its manufacture, but the skull-piece is a fine genuine production of the early years of the next century. The two parts were wedded as they now appear, we may suppose, early in the XIXth century, for so associated they appeared at the sale of the Brocas Collection in 1834. It will be noticed that originally the visor
