German Gothic armour.

20-14g mild steel and brass.
SOLD

Gothic armour inspired by the work of Lorenz Helmschmeid

This suit was based on a c.1480 original once belonging to the Arch Duke Sigismund of Tyrol. The original armour has been my biggest inspiration since I started making armour. I was awe struck the first time I saw a picture of the harness. The style was not the typical, Hollywood style, clunky armour I had grown up thinking our ancestors wore. The sleek form fitting lines terminating into sharp points makes the original suit the epitome of the German Gothic style.

Gothic Armour.

I started this suit as my personal side project around 1996. It has been quite a learning process. As I challenged myself to try to replicate the original armour I learned many decorative techniques and more importantly patience.

German Gothic armour rear view Closeup of a Gothic gauntlet showing piercing and file work

One big draw back to this long term learning process is that now I can see a drastic difference in the quality between the first components I made for this suit and the last ones. Even after this armour was technically finished, I continued working to replace the worst parts as I had spare time.

When I had finally completed the suit I was asking $18,500 but the more I looked at it the more things saw that I could have done better. The final selling price was $12,500 in its current stage but please note that a custom fit harness based on the same original would be significantly more expensive as I would want to make any future armour more true to the original.

Sabaton with spring release close up. Gothic sabaton with detatchable toe extension

The last pieces upgraded on the suit before it sold were the detachable toe extensions for the sabatons pictured below. They are held on by rectangular pegs that are affixed to strips of spring steel inside the sabatons. When the button above the peg is pushed the extra long toe pops off for easier walking. And they say the kids nowadays have strange fashion ideas!?!

Follow this link to see photos of the original armour on another site.

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