Harry the Mole

Hi Tony, Its the shape and size of the dome that is so weird. I have honestly never seen anything like it, and the helmet seems to have been based on a mixture of styles and fittings from various types of helmets. But as long as you are happy with it, that's all that matters. Cheers, Steve

I saw this - or one very much like it, for sale on eBay a good while ago. The helmet itself makes no sense, as Norman helmets were usually made from four panels beaten into shape and held together by metal strips riveted to the panels. And as your helmet skull is made from one piece, there is no need for it to have the metal strips and rivets - unless it was purely to add strength to the dome. Whatever it might have looked like, I cannot see that it would have matched anything similar to a Zischagge helmet. I would hazard a guess that it either fantasy piece - or for theatrical use. Cheers, Steve

Very nice, and thanks for showing. Cheers, Steve

I'm waiting on your PM!

You cannot grumble at £9. It looks a bit like the ones that some have claimed were made by SPINK in the 1970's. But if you want a really quality copy, give me a PM and I'll fix you up with one. Cheers, Steve

Those of who served in Northern Ireland during the 'Troubles' never got our own 'proper' medal. Cheers, Steve

Not a problem, I'm always willing to help if I can. I for got to say... it goes without saying that they are ALL repro's anyway, you won't find a genuine one on fleabay. Your best bet is a tailors copy if you can find one.

Steer well clear of that type, they are junk. Often advertised as 'bronze' instead of 'bronze coated'. have a close look at the face of the lion, it is truly dreadful! Cheers, Steve

Here you go... this is what diligent searching can turn up on eBay if you look around enough. But as always, you need to know a little bit about what you are hunting down. Both medals were purchased on eBay. The one on the left is cast in bronze, and the one on the right is bronze coated. Both look the same, but the one on the left is the size of the original with the cross at 36mm wide and 41mm high. The one on the right is 34mm wide and 39mm high. Other differences are that the one on the left has no visible seams on the sides of the arms of the cross and the mane of the lion is curled. The cross on the right has seams on the sides of the arms of the cross and the lions mane is straighter. The borders of both crosses are also narrower than an original VC, but the medal on the left is of far superior quality of the one on the right. The cross on the right turns up on eBay quite regularly, and the one on the left - less frequently, and sometimes it is usually poorly cast. But you can drop lucky and get yourself a good tailors copy like the example on the left for next to nothing. Cheers, Steve

I would have thought that attachment holes would be the norm - as used on other ribbon attachments, such as rosettes, Mons Star bar, oakleaf... A nice little VC though. Hey, Tony... keep looking on fleabay, it's surprising what crops up on there. I have another tailors copy VC that I purchased on there about three months back. I'll see if I can get it photographed later today and post it on this thread. Again it is another one that would slip under the radar of many collectors. Cheers, Steve

Very nice!

Good luck.

They all look OK, although I prefer the military pistols to the civilian one's. It's always nicer to see them in hand too. Maybe you would get 'mates rates?' Cheers, Steve

Some nice pistols there. Are you going to buy any?

Hi Tony, Just to muddy the waters a bit more for you, it should really be referred to as a 'Caliver'. The Caliver was a shorter version of the Arquebus - although both were matchlock. The standard matchlock of the Civil War period came in a variety of bores, and this caused problems for the musketeers on the battlefields - who often found that they had to deform the shape of musket balls to make them fit the barrel. A shorter version of the Arquebus was introduced with a standard bore of barrel, and this was known as the Caliver . The word Caliver was a corruption of the Italian word for internal measurement - which was Calibre. And that is basically how the word Calibre or Caliber came to mean the size of the bullet for any particular weapon. The matchlock was replaced by the wheellock - a system of igniting the powder which had many advantages over the matchlock, but was rather complicated and expensive to make. The (VERY) basic principle of how it works is when the trigger is squeezed, a wheel spins and causes sparks, which in turn ignites the powder in the pan. After that came the Snaphaunce and Doglock. The Doglock had no internal half-cock position, so the hammer was held back by a catch - the 'dog' - which engaged with the hammer as it was drawn to the rear. The gun could then be safely loaded and the hammer fully drawn to the rear and ready to fire. The next stage in the evolution of these weapons was the Flintlock, with this variation having an internal half-cock position, As the hammer was drawn to the rear, it was held at half-cock and rendered safe to load. This next bit is off topic, but serves to illustrate the use of half-cock as a safety feature. Even some relatively modern weapons used the half-cock as a safety device rather than a proper safety catch. The Maxim-type guns had no safety as such, and during WW1 the guns were kept at readiness by having them at half-cock. Maxim type guns had to be cocked twice to load them, the first pull of the crank merely placed the extractor over the base of the round in the belt when the action was cycled. This was the half-cock position. On the second pull of the crank, the cartridge was withdrawn from the feed belt and taken to the rear. As the lock returned to battery, the round was fed into the breech, the extractors moved up and grabbed the base of the next round, and the gun was ready to fire. Unlike other machine guns, the Maxi guns - of which the Vickers gun was a modified Maxim - the gun fired from a closed bolt. In other words, there was ALWAYS a round in the breech unless the gun was at half-cock. This was why Maxim guns were water cooled - it was to stop the round cooking off in a hot barrel. Cheers, Steve