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‡ A RARE EUROPEAN MAIL CAPE OR PISAIN, LATE 15TH/EARLY 16TH CENTURY, PROBABLY GERMAN

‡ A RARE EUROPEAN MAIL CAPE OR PISAIN, LATE 15TH/EARLY 16TH CENTURY, PROBABLY GERMAN composed of riveted iron rings with a border of latten rings top and bottom, those at the upstanding neck-opening and base of the throat densely arranged in alternating rows of rectangular and half-round-section wire, the remainder of rectangular section wire, the top latten border formed of a row of riveted rings with a further row of open rings above, the bottom border formed of two rows of larger riveted rings, shaped to the shoulders, extending downwards to an obtuse point at the front, formed with a central opening at the rear, closed by a later iron hook stamped with a fleur-de-lys and with a small iron plaque stamped with four dots separated by a Maltese cross (small losses, oxydised overall) Provenance Galerie Fischer, 19th June 1967, lot 56 Howard M. Curtis (no. 175) Mail capes such as this, referred to by modern collectors as 'bishops' mantles', were known at the time of their use as 'pisains'. Two similar examples are in the Royal Armouries Museum, Leeds, Inv. Nos. III. 13 & 14, in one case fitted with a Nuremberg-inscribed brass ring. Another, also opening at the front and now mounted on a so-called 'Landsknecht armour' is preserved in the Stibbert Museum, Florence. Others of an early fashion were formerly in the collections of Sir Guy Laking and Felix Joubert. (See Laking 1920, Vol. II, figs 530-1). Another example, formerly in the collection of Baron Armand van Zeulen (1838-96) and sold Sotheby's, London (1st April 1980, lot 81) was sold in this room 26th June 2007, lot 283. A copy of an accompanying letter from Claude Blair states that other pieces of mail with Maltese cross marks are recorded and the likelihood is that the mark is connected with the Armoury of the Knights of St John, Malta. Alternatively the marks are purely talismanic. Apparently no mail is recorded in Malta though a number of weapons there are stamped with this mark.

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‡ A RARE EUROPEAN MAIL CAPE OR PISAIN, LATE 15TH/EARLY 16TH CENTURY, PROBABLY GERMAN

Estimate 5 000 - 8 000 GBP
Starting price 2 600 GBP

* Not including buyer’s premium.
Please read the conditions of sale for more information.

Sale fees: 25 %
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For sale on Wednesday 26 Jun : 11:00 (BST)
londres, United Kingdom
Olympia Auctions
+4402078065541
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