Late 7th-mid 6th century BC. A hemispherical helmet raised from a single sheet of bronze, contoured crest base formed of two parallel raised ridges, rectangular cut-out for the face; smooth, slightly curving neck protection developing behind the pointed cheek guards, the pointed corners pierced for the attachment of a chin guard; the edges with a row of lentil-headed rivets; mounted on a custom-made display stand. See Pflug, H., ‘Griechische Helme Geometrische Zeit’ and 'Illirysche Helme' in Antike Helme, RGZM Monographien 14, Mainz, 1988, pp.11-64; Connolly, P., Greece and Rome at war, London, 1981; Christie's, The Axel Guttmann Collection of Ancient Arms and Armour, part 1, London, 2002; Christie's, The Axel Guttmann Collection of Ancient Arms and Armour, part 2, London, 2004; for an example of similar helmets see the Guttman collection (Christies 2002, p.66); see also another helmet from the Guttman collection (no inventory number, sold at Hermann Historica, 59th auction, 12 April 2010, lot 349) which shows the same kind of dotted perimeter and short rear flange.470 grams total, 40cm including stand (15 3/4"). From the Raymond family collection, London, UK, formed during the early 1970s; accompanied by a report by military expert Dr Raffaele D'Amato; this lot has been checked against the Interpol database of stolen works of art and it is accompanied by AIAD certificate number no.10407-170136. The derivation of the Illyrian helmet from the Geometric Age Kegel helmets (Christie’s, 2004, p.52) has been proved by Kunzle, which explains why the early types of Illyrian helmets were especially spread in the Greek Western Peloponnese. Both types show great similarities, especially when considering the straight variant of the Kegel helmets (Pflug, 1988, pp.12ff.) with similar hemi-spherical bowl, straight neck-protection (in type 1 of Illyrian helmets, then modified in the herewith studied type II variant I), straight and long cheek-pieces and the rectangular face cut-out. Another correspondence with the Kegel helmet typology is the rivet decorated borders. However, the helmets differed in the typology of production: the Illyrian helmets were mainly made of one or two pieces of bronze sheets, nailed together. Moreover the Illyrian helmets chronologically began to be visible from the first half of the 7th century, while the Kegel helmet is predominant in the 8th century BC.