Late 15th Century Gothic Floating Discs, 1.6mm Steel, Pair

Enjoy Late 15th Century Gothic Floating Discs, 1.6mm Steel, Pair

Late 15th century Gothic floating discs, 1.6 mm steel, pair



As the increasing effectiveness of offensive weapons increased the need for protection in the late Middle Ages, attempts were made to close the vulnerable gaps between the armour plates as best as possible. Although often highly decorative, the floating discs of late medieval or Gothic plate armour ( besagews or besagues in English) served primarily to protect the armpits and upper arms from heavy blows and knocks. < br>


These beautiful gothic style floating discs are based on the design of an artifact from the spurlock museum of world cultures , university of illinois, urbana-champaign. the artifact in question is a replica of a late 15th century german floating disc manufactured in 1913 and originally purchased from the ernst schmidt workshop in munich (ident no. 1913.09.0002e, see last image). *


Our floating discs, curved slightly inwards and decorated, are made of approximately 1.6 mm (16 gauge) steel and blackened on the back for better protection against corrosion. Each disc consists of a grooved disc pierced with trefoils, a smaller openwork plate with typical plant or leaf motifs of the period, which is riveted to the larger disc, and a pointed spike. The back is fitted with a leather strap with a brass buckle for attachment to plate armour, armpit armour or chainmail. The strap, the two plates and the mandrel are held together firmly and securely by a sturdy steel rivet in the centre of the back.



These round steel discs are ideal for late medieval and Renaissance settings and will make your depiction of a noble European knight or warrior look even more authentic.



It's a couple.



Details:

- Material: 1.6mm steel plate (ga 16), dark brown leather strap, antique brass buckles

- Diameter: approx. 17 cm (center plate approx. 11 cm)

- Height: approx. 5 cm

- Chuck length: approx. 4cm

- Dimensions of the leather straps: approx. 8 x 1.6 cm / approx. 2 mm thick

- Buckles suitable for a maximum strap width of 2 cm

- Weight (pair): approx. 640 g



The above specifications may vary slightly from copy to copy.



The steel used here is not stainless and may show slight signs of corrosion. We recommend taking care of plate armour regularly, for example with Ballistol, a universal oil ideal for preserving steel products.



This is a product of ulfberth ®.





* A photograph of this piece can be found in the Ernst Schmidt catalogue, which was republished in 1967 by Mowbray, E. Andrew in Arms and Armour from the Atelier of Ernst Schmidt, Munich (page 75 - plate 36). Similar floating discs can also be seen, for example, on one of the High German Gothic field armour suits, which was made by Ernst Schmidt's arms and armour smith Lorenz Kilian and sold to John Woodman Higgins in 1929.

Faced with a shortage of original pieces and to meet the high demand of the time, Ernst Schmidt founded one of the few workshops for neo-Gothic arms and armour in the late 1870s. His studio, specialising in fine, high-quality reproductions based on the traditional art of platemaking, supplied wealthy clients until about 1930. One of these was the American collector John Woodman Higgins. The first piece of plate armour that he purchased from Schmidt formed the basis of the Higgins Armory Museum (1931–2004, now part of the Worcester Art Museum , Massachusetts).


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