Experimental Breastplate
Culture
American
Date1918
Mediumsteel and copper with leather, rubber sponge, fabric and paint
Dimensions66 cm H x 43 cm W x 30 cm L; 24 lb 6 oz (weight)
ClassificationsArms and Armor
Markings"A" at base of bottom skirt lame. "B" on the middle lame and on breastplate.
Credit LineThe John Woodman Higgins Armory Collection
Object number2014.1176.3
Description(Breastplate with tassets): Heavy breastplate, Ordinance Model 1918. See Dean, pp. 244-248, figs. 193-195, 231. This is modeled after the late “Gothic” style, and consists of a heavy one-piece die-pressed breast that is rounded, with deep curved, flanged openings at the neck and arms. The breast is beaten up well over the tops of the shoulders, where the squared ends are riveted to curved bands that extend down over the shoulderblades. Narrowing only slightly towards the waist, the rear sides of the breastplate are fitted with mounts for an adjustable waist-strap of webbing. As the defense was worn without a back, this strap passed around the wearer’s lower back and a metal clasp at the right terminal snapped over a stud on the right side. Slack was taken up via a slide on the strap itself.
Attached to the bottom of the breast is a skirt of two thick deep rounded lames overlapping upward and working on sliding rivets. These plates are of equal depth over their length from the slightly angled sides. The basal lame is prolonged in a wide, rounded cusp at the groin. On either side, near the upper edge of this lame are the remains of a riveted set of leather straps. These secured to the now-lost buckles of the tassets.
The defense is without lining, and the only cushioning is in the form of sponge-rubber pads at the shoulders, upper chest and tops of the hips.
ProvenancePurchased by the museum on 10 June 1940 from Russell Uniform Company (1600 Broadway, NYC). Previously lot #107, U.S. Army Ordnance sale, Middletown Ordnance Reserve Department (Middletown, PA), 19 December 1922. Collection transfer from Higgins Armory, January 2014.
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