3rd-7th century AD. A substantial iron-framed cavalry helmet formed as a hemispherical bowl with a broad band fore-and-aft, applied bronze reeded strips secured with decorative rivets, D-shaped lateral sheet silver panels with repoussé fish-scale detailing; the interior with panels and fragments in a matrix. See Grancsay, S.V. A Sasanian Chieftain's Helmet in The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, New Series, Vol. 21, No. 8 (April, 1963) for discussion; also Ahmad, S.N. A new Sasanian helmet in the Musee d’Art Classique de Mougins, in Historia i ?wiat, 2015. 2.3 kg, 17 x 24cm (6 3/4 x 9 1/2"). From the collection of a North London gentleman; acquired in the 1980s. Accompanied by a positive metallurgic analytical report, written by Metallurgist Dr. Brian Gilmour of the Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, University of Oxford. The helmet's interior shows it has been constructed from bands and panels attached to an encircling browband, the most frequently encountered method for producing iron and bronze helmets in antiquity which persisted in eastern Europe and Western Asia until the early modern period. The fish-scale side panels are known from other Sassanian helmets, such as the examples in the Romische Germanische Zentralmuseum (Ahmad, fig. 7) and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (ibid., fig.6"). In plan, the helmet is more barrel-shaped than round, with distinct flattened faces to front and rear. This may have been intended to accommodate a separate arming cap or other form of inner protective layer. [A video of this item is available to view on TimeLine Auctions website.] Fine condition, some restoration. Rare.