Tibetan Helmet Restoration Project

[Peter_Suciu]

This is another helmet that I'm in the process of restoring, actually I should say my wife Enid is restoring. I am not going to remove the surface rust or attempt to clean it up. I think the helmet is made of metal with high iron content and I don't think removing the rust would be a good idea. It has a nice look so I'm going to maintain the helmet as is.

What needs to be done is the link curtain needs to be restored. Here is how the helmet now looks. Most of the links were loose in a bag.

 

[Peter_Suciu]

Here is the efforts to start to bind together the links. Enid was able to find some leather that was very close to what was on the helmet.

 

[kaiser]

I would try just with a brush and water to claen the surface,by doing that you just take away any dirt areas but not mutch of the rust, well only loose partikels of rust but not the deeper rust

Looks a nice project binding those straps together on the helmet

Good luck with that one and cant wait to see the result

Jonas

 

[SkipperJohn]

What years was this helmet used?

John

 

[Peter_Suciu]

What years was this helmet used?

It was used throughout the 19th century, this one is probably pre-1880s. Interesting piece I must say.

I really lucked out because this was sold with the Khedive helmet, and I won the two for $900 plus fees, so really a great deal!

 

[Peter_Suciu]

It took a little while to get it right, but my wife Enid did a fantastic job with the scales. We tried to match the leather as close as possible. The helmet looks great!

 

[SkipperJohn]

Excellent. What type of plume did these have? I have some extra horse hair, black, 16", if you want it.
John

 

[Peter_Suciu]

Thank you John. I don't know if it ever had a plume. I think that was just similar to a spike on the top. I've never seen a photo of one of these helmets with a plume, but I appreciate the offer.

 

[Arran]

What an incredibly cool piece! I saw helmets like this displayed in temples when I was in Tibet over 20 years ago. I did manage to pick up some chainmail and armour bits in the market in Lhasa...still have a couple of lance tips somewhere...