Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 5).djvu/149

 Mr. Francis, of London, who was a very indifferent maker of modern armour in the eighties of the last century.

In the process of being embossed and inlaid with gold. The work of Monsieur Trebuoj

In the case of forgeries of XVIth century armour and weapons, apart from those produced in Italy early in the XIXth century, some really fine work has been put into the market, and infinite trouble has been taken by the latter-day artificer to get as near the real thing as possible, both in respect of form and of decoration as also in the cunning suggestion of the appearance of age. Gold inlaid armour, a most comprehensive term, has always been sought for by the more wealthy collectors, and has from the earliest days of collecting commanded a high price. Certainly some of the reproductions made in the first half of the XIXth century call for scant notice, being little better in workmanship than those English fakes of which we have already spoken so disparagingly. But often it will be found that a genuine though poor suit has been employed as a groundwork on which to add an elaboration of etching, gilding, or even embossing. We illustrate the cuff (Fig. 1540) of a genuine but plain gauntlet, actually in the process of being enriched by the addition of skilful embossing and gold inlaying, the