part of the Metropolitan Museum of New York, shows, we understand, three examples of the bascinet helmet and the visor of a fourth, which, however, is of the type that was hinged above the forehead. But this entire collection is one of which we can speak with no personal knowledge.
In addition to the famous Londesborough bascinet, to which we have referred (Fig. 283, page 243), the Metropolitan Museum of New York shows three others, among which is the skull-piece of a very fine late XIVth century French example—a grand type (Fig. 293) to which is attached a romantic but entirely unsupported story that it belonged to Joan of Arc, the legend being that it came from the Church of St. Peter the Martyr at Orleans and was originally suspended there above the high altar as an ex-voto offering on the part of the Maid. The skull-piece bears as an armourer's mark a star with six points within a circle framed by a shield. This mark has been largely copied on the best of the modern forgeries.
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Fig. 294. Visored bascinet helmet, last years of XIVth century
With remarkably drawn-out skull-piece; it has been restored at the apex
Imperial Armoury of Vienna
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Fig. 294 (a). Visored bascinet helmet, last years of XIVth century
The visor is somewhat unusual from its very large proportions
Imperial Armoury of Vienna
Strangely enough, the wonderful Armoury of Vienna possesses two specimens only (Figs. 294 and 294a) and neither of these is remarkable for its quality. In Count Hans Wilczek's extensive collection at Kreuzenstein, outside Vienna, which boasts of possessing nearly every type of head-piece, there are displayed four specimens, three of which are, however, of more than doubtful authenticity. The Count, however, possesses a fine pig-faced visor of such a head-piece. A good and complete visored bascinet is shown in the Zeughaus of Berlin (Fig. 295); while there can be seen one specimen at Munich, two at Nuremberg, and an example at Brussels in the Porte de
