08-20-2010, 03:03 PM
Crispus,
Not to go OT but the other feature that is telling of the transverse crest in the Gallic D is the absense of holes on the front and back of the helmet as well. Also the silver decorative rosettes that adorn the entire helmet. Again it is a common misconception that the brass cheekpiece is the way the helmet was originally made. It is too bad that the helmet was destroyed because I wonder if it was silvered. From the original report on this helmet, there is no inidication of foil or any silvering. Of course considering how thin silver foil is, it is not a surprise if it were gone.
However, how would an iron helmet be silvered? Direct application of molten, liquid, or whatever silver does not cause the necessary redox reaction for it to deposit.
I looked into having my version of the Gallic D helmet silvered and was told that the only way was to first cover the entire helmet with a copper coating followed by a silver coat. Now, I am not saying that I know how the Romans did their coating but IMHO, I think that their silvered iron objects were probably covered with foil while their copper alloy objects were silvered by any variety of liquid methods or even foil. I do not know what technology they possesed for coating because the certainly did not have plating in the modern sense.
Not to go OT but the other feature that is telling of the transverse crest in the Gallic D is the absense of holes on the front and back of the helmet as well. Also the silver decorative rosettes that adorn the entire helmet. Again it is a common misconception that the brass cheekpiece is the way the helmet was originally made. It is too bad that the helmet was destroyed because I wonder if it was silvered. From the original report on this helmet, there is no inidication of foil or any silvering. Of course considering how thin silver foil is, it is not a surprise if it were gone.
However, how would an iron helmet be silvered? Direct application of molten, liquid, or whatever silver does not cause the necessary redox reaction for it to deposit.
I looked into having my version of the Gallic D helmet silvered and was told that the only way was to first cover the entire helmet with a copper coating followed by a silver coat. Now, I am not saying that I know how the Romans did their coating but IMHO, I think that their silvered iron objects were probably covered with foil while their copper alloy objects were silvered by any variety of liquid methods or even foil. I do not know what technology they possesed for coating because the certainly did not have plating in the modern sense.
"You have to laugh at life or else what are you going to laugh at?" (Joseph Rosen)
Paolo
Paolo
