Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 4).djvu/198

 beauty of construction, the enrichment of which was probably the work of Peter von Speier of Annaberg. This helmet, like others we have mentioned, had portions of its surface overlaid with a textile substance, in this case black velvet, which was sewn to the metal foundation by means of threads passing through fine perforations; these edged the general contour of the helmet and its bands of enrichments. In the interior was the original lining. Hefner-Alteneck acquired this casque in 1861 from the Castle of Hohenaschan. Its probable date is within the second half of the XVIth century.

German, about 1560. With etched bands by Peter von Speier of Annaberg, Saxony. Collection: the late Herr Hefner-Alteneck

Of the more ordinary burgonet type of open casque, casques furnished with the high comb and with more robustly proportioned ear-pieces, but still of German workmanship, if a little more Italian in their form, are two very finely etched helmets in the National Germanic Museum of Nuremberg (Figs. 1253 and 1254). Despite the fact that their respective decorations are quite dissimilar in theme, both these casques are enriched with aqua fortis etching executed in the finest possible manner, the various designs being drawn with the most accurate precision, and executed with the greatest exactitude. The one more richly decorated (Fig. 1253) is the earlier of the