Heavy Metal

[chaman]

Some details of centuries old armor. Taken at The Met, New York.

269A2544 by Oscar Baez Soria, on Flickr

269A2548 by Oscar Baez Soria, on Flickr

269A2550 by Oscar Baez Soria, on Flickr

269A2554-Edit by Oscar Baez Soria, on Flickr

269A2557-Edit by Oscar Baez Soria, on Flickr

[JBW]

fascinating

[rpcrowe]

Absolutely beautiful workmanship. I wonder if the decoration enhanced the utility in any way or if this type of suit was mostly for show? Nicely done photos...

[chaman]

Absolutely beautiful workmanship. I wonder if the decoration enhanced the utility in any way or if this type of suit was mostly for show? Nicely done photos...

The craftsmanship is exquisite, out of this world really. These armors saw combat but were primarily used by knights, kings, nobles or the wealthy. It had purpose of also impress the enemy apart from protection. Thanks for looking.

[Shadowman]

Nice series.

[pschlute]

Lovely detail in these shots.

I watched a fascinating program on English armour makers a few years ago. A newly created knight would order a set of armour to be made for him. This could take well over a year and would cost the equivalent of hundreds of thousands of pounds. He also had to be careful his decorative suit would not upstage the King's !

[tbob]

Beautifully shot and fascinating subject. I imagine that after spending a whack on the suit you would fight much better. Mainly to prevent some lout with a mace scratching it, or worse having to explain to the wife why you can't look after your stuff.

[rpcrowe]

It's quite a thought that this very expensive and exquisite suit of armor was rendered obsolete by a relatively inexpensive arrow shot by an English yeoman using his longbow and then again totally wiped off the face of the battlefield by a lead ball fired from a crude musket which did not take a lifetime to learn to use as did the longbow...

[chaman]

Thanks Richard, John, Peter and Trevor! Glad you liked them.

[JBW]

Don't forget that nasty bit of equipment called the Crossbow.