A RARE NORTH ITALIAN SALLET, CIRCA 1500 with hemispherical skull rising to a low medial comb, cen

A RARE NORTH ITALIAN SALLET, CIRCA 1500 with hemispherical skull rising to a low medial comb, centrally-cusped brow-plate arched over the face, and two restored tail-plates projecting backwards to a rounded end, each attached to the former and each other by a pair of rivets, the lowest plates in each case formed with a plain inward turn (the whole heavily corroded) 18cm; 7in high

Stated by Enrico Minervino of Milan to have been found by divers in the River Bacchliglioi near Padua, Italy, but showing a preservation typical of pieces obtained from the armoury of the Knights of St John at Rhodes which fell to the Turks in 1522/3. It can be compared with sallets from that same source now preserved in the Royal Armouries Museum, Leeds (IV. 481), the Higgins Armoury Museum, Worcester, Mass. (880), and several private collections (W. Karcheski & T. Richardson 2000, pp. 9 & 13-15).