Recontruction of Belt from Herculaneum and Pompeii in 79 AD.

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Guys, just a thought: Do you think the original armorers knew and cared? I think not. Original stuff was ornate, yet crude. Now, I don't know much about 3rd Century because it doesn't interest me that much (and you guys know that if I DID do 3. Cen., I'd be adorned w/ more swastikas than a Nürnburg rally) :grin: I digress... What I am trying to say is that people, whether reenactors or collectors, want some beautiful piece of art to wear/put on a shelf and wank to "Oh, this is just how it was, built by ANCIENT CRAFTSMEN, not in India by icky people, but instead by OLD WORLD, blah, blah, blah." Bad me. The real stuff I have seen and looked at pix of, is crooked. Stuff is riveted on crookedy. I love the Gallic G at Worms -- it has a rivet mashed into a rosette all crooked. You know most people, especially hyper reenactors would NEVER buy a helmet that is exactly copied from that. It's too shitty. It doesn't go w/ their notions of "Romaness" and their esthetics. Sad, but true.

Anyway, my bloviations above basically explain why someone can get away w/ selling a helmet for like $2000.+ Sorry, but it's pretty, but not authentic (too ME, before someone whines that I am a bastard). For that much money, why not get some work of art from Lord of the Rings?? In reality, although the humble Indian craftsmen do not forge helmets from ore, they do make one that is a bit more realistic than the über-pretty ones the "craftsmen" make. What we need is a way to "uglify" the Indian ones or better, a helmet kit that you can rivet the stuff on and mix and match things like rosettes, etc.
~Evyil Marsh (waiting for a moderator to yell at me for this)