6th-7th century AD. A segmented iron helmet formed from overlapping and rivetted sheets, two upper bands forming a cross running front-to-back and side-to-side; a separately made headband formed of three bands, the lower edge perforated for the attachment of a lining or ring mail; a substantial nose guard rivetted to the frontal band. See Vogt, M., Spangenhelme, Darmstadt, 2006; Miks, C., ‘Relikte eines Fruhmittelalterlichen Oberschichtgrabes?,’ in Jahrbuch des RGZM, 2009, 56, pp.396-538.1.5 kg, 26cm including nasal (10 1/4"). Property of an English collector; acquired in Netherlands before 2000; accompanied by an archaeological report by military specialist Raffaele D’Amato; this lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by AIAD certificate number no.10398-169267. The helmet belongs to the category of the so-called Kreuzbanden-helmen, the variant virtually identical to a helmet recently published by the Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums Mainz (Miks, 2009, pp.396ff."). Helmets of this type seem to have been the most used helmet between the end of the 5th century and the beginning of the 6th century, as various specimens have been found in the European territory. Originally thought of being of Germanic production, they were instead made in the workshops of the Eastern Roman Empire, as proved by the excavations of Justiniana Prima (Caricin Grad) of Professor Vujadin Ivanisevic.