Helmets
Helmets are among the oldest forms of personal protective equipment and are known to have been worn by the Akkadians/Sumerians in the 23rd century BCE, Mycenaean Greeks since the 17th century BCE, the Assyrians around 900 BCE, ancient Greeks and Romans, throughout the Middle Ages, and up to the end of the 17th century by many combatants.
Showing 1–48 of 256 results
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Bobruysk Helmet, Eastern European Pattern
SKU: AH6398The Bobruysk Helmet takes its name from the region of Bobruysk in modern-day Belarus, where archaeological finds have provided valuable insight into the martial culture of Eastern Europe. This reproduction follows a traditional conical profile associated with Kievan Rus and wider Eastern European helmet traditions, handcrafted from brass sheet with steel reinforcement bands. Complete with a historically inspired apex finial, riveted construction, and a leather chin strap.
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This helmet is patterned after a cavalry find from Xanten, ancient Colonia Ulpia Traiana, a significant Roman military base and later colonia on the Rhine frontier in modern Germany. Xanten’s archaeological record spans centuries of Roman military presence, making it one of the richest sources of Roman equipment finds along the entire Rhine frontier. As cavalry equipment, it reflects the specialised gear developed for mounted troops, distinct in construction and decoration from standard legionary infantry helmets.
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Valsgärde Viking Helmet
SKU: AH6348A reproduction inspired by the spectacular helmets recovered from the Valsgärde boat-grave cemetery near Uppsala, Sweden, whose earliest graves each contained a uniquely decorated helmet in bronze, gold, and garnets.
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Coppergate Helmet
SKU: AH6730RVThe Coppergate Helmet is one of the most important Anglo-Saxon archaeological finds ever recovered, discovered by a mechanical digger operator in York, England, in May 1982 — worth correcting directly here, since older listing copy filed this piece under 'Medieval,' when it is a genuine 8th century Anglo-Saxon original. The original carries an inscribed Latin prayer naming its owner, 'Oshere,' and is considered the best-preserved of only a handful of Anglo-Saxon helmets known to survive anywhere in the world. This variant reflects a different finish treatment on the same celebrated Northumbrian design.
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The Lyle Bascinet is based on a genuine original, object IV.470, held by the Royal Armouries in Leeds, England, and estimated to have been made in Italy between 1371 and 1399. Originally associated with the Churburg armoury, the original may have seen use during the Hundred Years' War, one of the defining conflicts of Late Medieval Europe. The helm features brass vervelles for attaching a mail aventail, and its visor can be worn fully closed or removed entirely, letting the wearer switch between an open-faced or fully protected bascinet as circumstances demanded.
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Crusader Helmet
SKU: AH3823This helmet reflects the equipment carried by knights during the Crusades to the Holy Land, the series of campaigns beginning in 1096 that brought European warriors into the Levant. Crusader knights drew on the broader Northern European knightly helmet tradition, adapted over the following centuries as the campaigns continued and equipment evolved. This piece captures the essential form of a Crusader-era knight's helmet, a symbol of the Medieval Church's military expeditions to the Eastern Mediterranean.
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Imperial Italic ‘C’ Helmet, Steel
SKU: AH6057NThe Imperial Italic C sits among the earlier sub-types in Robinson's Italic classification, sharing the family's characteristically plainer profile compared to the eyebrow-decorated Gallic series. As with all Italic types, its restrained decoration reflects a design prioritising speed of manufacture and consistent protection over ornamental display. This steel-built version offers the same recognisable Italic C silhouette in a different base material from the brass variant within the same range.
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Gladiator Helmet, Mosaic Pattern
SKU: AH6202BThis helmet's decoration draws on the many surviving Roman mosaics depicting gladiatorial contests, a rich visual source for understanding how arena fighters actually appeared. Roman mosaics from villas and public buildings across the Empire preserve detailed, often vividly coloured scenes of gladiators in action, capturing armour and helmet details that complement the archaeological record. These artistic sources, alongside surviving physical helmets, give historians a fuller picture of gladiatorial equipment than either type of evidence could provide alone.
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Hoplomachus Gladiator Helmet
SKU: AH6201The Hoplomachus was modelled deliberately on the ancient Greek hoplite, a nostalgic nod to a heroic past that appealed strongly to educated Roman audiences. Armed with a long thrusting spear and a small round shield in place of the large rectangular scutum most other gladiator classes carried, the Hoplomachus fought at a genuine reach advantage over closer-range opponents. A tall crest atop the bronze helmet added to the class's visually striking, almost theatrical presence in the arena.
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German Close Helmet, 16th Century Pattern
SKU: AH6394The close helmet was a fully enclosing combat helmet worn by knights and men-at-arms in the Late Medieval and Renaissance periods, remaining in use by heavily armoured cuirassiers into the mid-17th century. This reproduction recreates a specifically German 16th-century pattern, reflecting the continued German preference for fully enclosing helmet forms. German armouring centres such as Augsburg and Nuremberg remained at the forefront of European plate armour production well into the 16th century.
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Houndskull Bascinet (Churburg No. 13)
SKU: AH6380This bascinet is based on Churburg Bascinet No. 13, a genuine surviving example dated to the second half of the 14th century, displayed in the armoury of Churburg Castle (Castel Coira), South Tyrol, Italy. Churburg holds one of the most important surviving collections of complete Gothic plate armour anywhere in the world, giving historians rare, closely dated evidence of Late Medieval knightly equipment. Its projecting, conical visor is a textbook example of the houndskull (hounskull) form, popular among knights across Europe until around 1420.
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Scottish Burgonet Helmet
SKU: AH6379The burgonet, sometimes called the Burgundian sallet, succeeded the sallet as a Renaissance and early modern combat helmet, characterised by a rounded skull with a fixed or hinged peak projecting above the face, an integral crest or comb running front to back, and substantial hinged cheekpieces that typically left the chin and throat exposed. This version is styled for Scottish military use, reflecting the burgonet’s adoption across Britain during the 16th and 17th centuries. British forces, including Scottish troops, adopted Renaissance helmet forms like the burgonet alongside older Highland arms traditions during this transitional period of European warfare.
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Vendel Viking Helmet
SKU: AH6378A reproduction inspired by the spectacular helmets recovered from the boat-grave cemetery at Vendel, Uppland, Sweden — the site that gave its name to the entire Vendel Period between the Migration Period and the Viking Age.
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Helmet of Themistocles
SKU: AH6385Themistocles was the Athenian statesman and general whose vision and political acumen are widely credited with securing the decisive Greek naval victory over the Persian fleet at the Battle of Salamis in 480 BC. Themistocles had earlier persuaded Athens to invest newly discovered silver revenues into building a large war fleet rather than distributing the wealth directly to citizens, a decision that proved decisive against Xerxes' invasion. This helmet reflects the Corinthian-style equipment worn by Greek commanders and hoplites of this pivotal period in the Greco-Persian Wars.
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The sugarloaf helm evolved from the earlier flat-topped great helm during the late 13th and 14th centuries, its tall conical crown taking its name from the cone-shaped moulds used to form refined sugar in the period. Worked in 16-gauge steel, this reproduction offers a heavier, more durable build than lighter alternatives. The moving visor adds genuine functionality, letting the wearer raise it for ventilation and vision between engagements.
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This kettle helm recreates a specific historical find from Konstanz Cathedral (Konstanzer Münster) in Germany, dated to the 13th century. A distinctive wide, horizontal brim effectively protected against arrows, blows from above, and rain, making this style genuinely practical for both foot soldiers and horsemen. Worked in 16-gauge steel, this reproduction is inspired directly by that documented archaeological original.
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10th Century Viking Helmet
SKU: AH6390A Viking Age helmet reflecting 10th century Norse construction, available in a choice of steel gauges for lighter display use or heavier re-enactment handling.
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15th Century English-Burgundian Salet
SKU: AH6389The sallet (also known as celata, salade or schaller) was a war helmet that replaced the earlier bascinet across Italy, Germany, and much of western and northern Europe during the mid-15th century, first recorded in a 1407 Gonzaga family inventory. By the mid-15th century, a distinct regional variety had evolved in England and the Netherlands, termed the “English-Burgundian” style, blending elements of the Italian and German forms. This reproduction, available in 16 or 18 gauge, recreates that intermediate English style of salet.
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Viking Ocular Helmet
SKU: ANT6388A Viking Age helmet fitted with an ocular guard — a pair of curved openings framing the eyes — a protective design distinct from the single-bar nasal guard more commonly associated with the period.
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Visored Bascinet, with Leather Liner
SKU: AH6332This visored bascinet reflects the classic rounded-skull Medieval knightly helmet, fitted here with a comfortable leather liner. The bascinet evolved in the early 14th century from the simpler cervelliere skullcap, becoming the most widely worn helmet among European knights through the 14th and 15th centuries. A hinged, attached visor offered the wearer the option of full face protection or an open, better-ventilated view depending on the moment's demands.
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Valsgarde-Style Vendel Helmet
SKU: AH6333This helmet is styled after the spectacular helmets recovered from the boat graves at Valsgarde, Sweden, one of the richest archaeological sites of the pre-Viking Vendel period (roughly 550-750 AD). Valsgarde’s helmets belong to the group of Nordic “crested” or “spectacled” helmets, distinguished by distinctive brow fittings and a crest ending in animal heads, closely related to the famous Sutton Hoo helmet found in England. This reproduction recreates that richly decorated Scandinavian helmet tradition, predating the Viking Age proper but foundational to the wider Norse martial aesthetic.
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Spartacus Gladiator Helmet, Thraex Pattern
SKU: AH6326Spartacus, the Thracian gladiator whose 73-71 BC uprising became the largest slave revolt in Roman history, is traditionally understood to have trained and fought as a Thraex before his rebellion began. The Thraex class carried a distinctive high crest, often shaped into a griffin, invoking Nemesis, the goddess of vengeance and fate closely associated with the arena. Spartacus's later fame as a rebel leader has made the Thraex helmet form he likely wore one of the most instantly recognisable pieces of gladiatorial equipment in popular imagination today.
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Archer’s Visored Sallet
SKU: AH6325The sallet (also known as celata, salade or schaller) was a war helmet that replaced the earlier bascinet across Italy, Germany, and much of western and northern Europe during the mid-15th century, first recorded in a 1407 Gonzaga family inventory. This version is styled for archer use, combining a moveable visor with the good visibility and ventilation an archer needed for accurate, sustained shooting. The sallet’s open, adaptable design made it a genuinely practical choice for archers, who needed clear sightlines that a fully enclosed helm would compromise.
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Great Pot Helm, 16-Gauge
SKU: AH6327.16This 'pot helm' reflects an early, simpler form within the great helm family, its rounded, bowl-like profile predating the later flat-topped box style. The great helm arose in the late 12th century in the context of the Crusades and remained in use into the 14th century, its fully enclosing form offering superior protection against lance strikes. Worn over a mail coif or a separate close-fitting helmet, it traded mobility for maximum coverage, ideal for a mounted knight's initial charge.
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Great Helm, with Brass Fittings
SKU: XH017/AH4420This great helm reflects the fully enclosing knightly helmet that arose in the late 12th century, in the context of the Crusades, finished here with brass fittings. Its box-like, fully enclosing form offered superior protection against lance strikes once the couched-lance cavalry charge made face-level blows a serious hazard. Worn over a mail coif or a separate close-fitting helmet, it traded mobility for maximum coverage, ideal for a mounted knight's initial charge.
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Pig-Face (Houndskull) Bascinet, Standard
SKU: XH016/AH4422This pig-face bascinet reflects historical research into surviving originals, its distinctive projecting, conical visor resembling a hound's muzzle. This visor shape deflected blows away from the face while its pointed form encouraged the wearer's breath to escape downward, keeping the vision slits clearer than a flatter visor would allow. The type superseded the earlier great helm as the battlefield helmet of choice, prized for its genuinely superior flexibility and defensive qualities.
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The lobster-tail pot helmet, named for its articulated, segmented neck guard resembling a lobster's tail, was the signature cavalry helmet of the English Civil War (1642-1651). Its open face, typically fitted with a sliding nasal bar rather than a full visor, balanced protection with the visibility a mounted trooper needed. This helmet type is closely associated with both Royalist and Parliamentarian cavalry throughout the conflict that reshaped 17th century Britain.
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Great Helm, Classic Pattern
SKU: XH002This great helm reflects the fully enclosing knightly helmet that arose in the late 12th century, in the context of the Crusades, and remained in use into the 14th century. Its box-like, fully enclosing form offered superior protection against lance strikes once the couched-lance cavalry charge made face-level blows a serious hazard. Worn over a mail coif or a separate close-fitting helmet, it traded mobility for maximum coverage, ideal for a mounted knight's initial charge.
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Henry VIII-Style Close Helmet
SKU: XH001This close helmet draws on the armour style associated with King Henry VIII of England, whose reign (1509-1547) saw some of the most lavish royal armour commissions in English history. Henry VIII maintained royal workshops at Greenwich specifically to produce elaborate parade and field armour, some surviving pieces now held in the Royal Armouries and Tower of London. This close helmet form reflects the fully enclosing, fully articulated Renaissance helmet style favoured by the English court during his reign.
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Visored Bascinet, 18-Gauge
SKU: AH6332.18This visored bascinet reflects the classic rounded-skull Medieval knightly helmet, built here in a lighter 18-gauge steel specification. The bascinet evolved in the early 14th century from the simpler cervelliere skullcap, becoming the most widely worn helmet among European knights through the 14th and 15th centuries. A hinged, attached visor offered the wearer the option of full face protection or an open, better-ventilated view depending on the moment's demands.
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Archer’s Helmet, Open Pattern
SKU: AH6336This open helmet reflects the practical, economical protection worn by Medieval archers, whose need for a clear line of sight and good hearing shaped their equipment choices. Unlike the fully enclosing great helm favoured by mounted knights, archers generally wore lighter, more open helmets suited to drawing a bow and tracking targets. This form offered reliable protection without compromising the visibility and mobility an archer's role demanded.
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Roman Centurion’s Helmet, Classic Pattern
SKU: AH6334A centurion, commanding roughly eighty men within a Roman legion, was visually distinguished from the ordinary legionary by several marks of rank, and his helmet was chief among them. A transverse crest, rather than the front-to-back crest of common soldiers, immediately identified a centurion at a glance, even across the chaos and dust of a legion on the march or in formation. Finer decorative detailing further set a centurion's equipment apart, a visible reflection of both his rank and the greater personal expense he was expected to bear for his own gear.
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King’s Great Helm, with Crown
SKU: XH005This great helm is finished with a crown, reflecting the elevated status such a helmet would signal, befitting a king rather than an ordinary knight. The great helm arose in the late 12th century in the context of the Crusades and remained in use into the 14th century, its fully enclosing form offering superior protection against lance strikes. A crowned great helm carried real symbolic weight, marking its wearer as royalty even beneath a fully concealing visor.
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This bascinet honours Robert the Bruce, King of Scots, whose 1314 victory at the Battle of Bannockburn secured Scottish independence and cemented his place among Scotland's most celebrated monarchs. Finished with a brass crown and a mail aventail, this piece reflects the elevated status such a helmet would have signalled, befitting a king rather than an ordinary knight. The mail aventail, hanging from vervelles around the base of the skull, protected the neck and shoulders while preserving the bascinet's genuine mobility advantage over the earlier great helm.
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Celtic Helmet, Antique Finish
SKU: AH5506DCeltic helmets were common chiefly among the Gauls, particularly the upper-class warriors who could afford such high-quality craftsmanship. These well-made Celtic designs carried real influence beyond their own culture, shaping the helmet forms Rome itself would later adopt as its legions expanded across Western Europe. This antique-finished version gives the essential Celtic helmet form a weathered, aged surface treatment for a more archaeological display presentation.
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Templar Helmet, Standard
SKU: AH4423This helmet reflects the equipment associated with the Knights Templar, the powerful crusading military order founded in the early 12th century to protect pilgrims travelling to the Holy Land. The Templars drew on the broader Northern European knightly helmet tradition shared by other Crusading forces of the period. The order grew into one of the wealthiest and most influential institutions of the Medieval world before its suppression in 1312.
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Imperial Gallic Helmet, Alesia Type
SKU: AH6322This helmet references finds associated with Alesia, the site of Julius Caesar's decisive 52 BC siege that broke the Gallic confederation under Vercingetorix and effectively completed the Roman conquest of Gaul. Alesia's extensive archaeological record, drawn from the vast siege works Caesar's own account describes in detail, has yielded significant equipment finds illuminating this pivotal campaign. As an Imperial Gallic-series helmet, it carries the family's characteristic embossed eyebrow decoration, the hallmark of the type's distinctive Gallic craftsmanship.
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This helmet reflects the equipment of Air Raid Precautions wardens, the civilian volunteers responsible for enforcing blackout regulations and coordinating local response during German bombing raids on Britain in the Second World War. Its distinctive blue colour, rather than khaki or steel-grey military tones, marked ARP wardens out as civilian defence personnel rather than front-line personnel. ARP wardens played a genuinely vital role on the British home front, patrolling streets during air raids, directing people to shelters, and reporting bomb damage and casualties to emergency services.
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Austrian M17 Helmet
SKU: AH4515The Austro-Hungarian Empire developed its own steel field helmet during the First World War, sharing broad design principles with the German Stahlhelm while remaining a distinct national pattern. Austro-Hungarian forces fought across multiple demanding fronts during the war, including the mountainous Italian front, where reliable head protection carried particular importance. This helmet reflects the wider European race to field effective steel helmets once the devastating toll of shrapnel and shell-fragment wounds became clear in the war's early trench warfare.
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This piece reproduces the experimental M15 Adrian helmet fitted with a facemask, designed by Dr. Polack, a medical officer stationed at Verdun during one of the First World War's longest and bloodiest battles. The added facemask reflects direct battlefield medical experience, an attempt to extend protection beyond the standard Adrian helmet's coverage to guard against the facial wounds so common in trench warfare. Few experimental designs like this saw widespread issue, making surviving examples and faithful reproductions a genuinely unusual window into wartime medical innovation.
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“Viking” Winged Helmet, Novelty
SKU: AH3830A Novelty helmet mounted with wings in the popular imagined style of the 'Viking helmet' — worth being upfront that this has no basis in the Viking Age archaeological record.
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Nasal Helmet, Cross Motif, Deluxe
SKU: H058This nasal helmet is finished with a cross motif, reflecting the deep religious symbolism woven into Medieval knightly identity and equipment. The nasal helmet, defined by its single protective nose-guard, saw widespread use from the late 9th century through the 12th, a form predating the later great helm and bascinet. A cross carried genuine devotional meaning for a Medieval Christian warrior, a visible mark of faith carried into battle.
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Celtic Helmet, Standard Pattern
SKU: AH5506Celtic helmets were common chiefly among the Gauls, particularly the upper-class warriors who could afford such high-quality craftsmanship. These well-made Celtic designs carried real influence beyond their own culture, shaping the helmet forms Rome itself would later adopt as its legions expanded across Western Europe. This standard pattern reflects the essential Celtic helmet form carried across Iron Age Western Europe before and during Rome's conquest of Gaul.
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German Luftwaffe M1937 Paratrooper Helmet
SKU: AH4501This helmet reflects the M1937 pattern worn by Germany's Fallschirmjäger, the elite Luftwaffe paratrooper units that saw action across nearly every major German campaign of the Second World War. German paratroopers wearing this pattern took part in the invasions of the Low Countries and Norway, the North African and Italian campaigns, and the Eastern Front, among many other theatres. Perhaps most famously, Fallschirmjäger equipped with this helmet carried out the September 1943 Gran Sasso raid, the daring operation that freed Benito Mussolini from Italian captivity.
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Helmets of the 14th century combined iron plate and mail, and among the range worn by knights, the visored bascinet with camail was especially common alongside the great helm. The sugarloaf helm evolved from the earlier flat-topped great helm during the late 13th and 14th centuries, its tall conical crown taking its name from the cone-shaped moulds used to form refined sugar in the period. This version carries a dark finish, offering a more imposing, weathered appearance than a bright polished steel build.
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Helmets of the 14th century combined iron plate and mail, and among the range worn by knights, the visored bascinet with camail was especially common alongside the great helm. The sugarloaf helm evolved from the earlier flat-topped great helm during the late 13th and 14th centuries, its tall conical crown taking its name from the cone-shaped moulds used to form refined sugar in the period. This version recreates an early 14th-century visored pattern, close to the point the sugarloaf shape first emerged from the earlier flat-topped great helm.
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US M1 Helmet, Antique Camouflage Finish
SKU: AH6142PThe M1 helmet was the standard steel field helmet of the United States military from the Second World War until 1985, one of the longest-serving helmet patterns in American military history. Its distinctive two-piece construction — an outer steel shell paired with a separate fibre liner — allowed the liner to be issued individually fitted, while the outer shell could double as a washbasin, stool, or cooking pot in the field. This antique camouflage finish reflects the painted and netted camouflage treatments American troops widely applied to their helmets for concealment.
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British Brodie Helmet
SKU: AH6143The Brodie helmet, patented in London in 1915 by inventor John Leopold Brodie, became the standard steel field helmet of the British and Commonwealth armies through both World Wars. Unlike the multi-piece Adrian helmet developed in France around the same time, Brodie's design was pressed from a single sheet of thick steel, giving it greater strength through simpler construction. Its broad, shallow-brimmed shape closely echoes the Medieval kettle hat or chapel-de-fer, a design lineage stretching back over 700 years to the 12th century.
