Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 5).djvu/172

 the limbs of the man who was to wear it. It is obvious that the life of such an art was spent when the soldier and courtier ceased to wear armour, and so happily the most astute forger, however great an artist or craftsman, can at best produce a small piece of armour in imitation of the old, but when he tries to produce a suit which is not a copy his mistakes are multiplied a thousandfold.

These few notes on forgeries and on the fabrications of arms and armour have been made, we confess, with a certain degree of misgiving; for it is only natural that collectors who are the unfortunate possessors of spurious examples should regard our strictures as to a certain extent levelled against themselves. The author, however, would deprecate most sincerely the idea of any such interpretation being given to his words, and would earnestly point out that every collection without exception has at some time or other harboured a fabricated or a reconstituted specimen. But even copies have their legitimate use. Indeed, we will go as far as to say that certain fabrications, made not to deceive but to stand as faithful copies of some fine models, are at times preferable to sixth-rate originals. We ourselves, indeed, know cases in which copies of famous historical pieces have been bought by some of the most fastidious of collectors when the true pieces were unobtainable.