The Armoury

My interest in armour began a few years ago with a trip to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. While looking at the "wall o' helmets", I realized that this was a subject I knew nothing about. At the time, there wasn't much available on the 'web in the way of good photographs of armour, so I decided to do something about it.

My intention is to make this a reference section for armour enthusiasts who might not be able to visit these museums. That means a lot of repetitive or boring straight-on shots, but there may be some "arty" ones, too. I'm going to try to have high-resolution shots whenever possible. Coping with low light levels, glass cases, and reflections usually requires some cropping/retouching or even stitching shots together.

I've been contacted a few times by parties interested in publishing photos from my collection. Unfortunately, most museums only allow photography for personal use, and forbid publication, even for educational purposes. If you are looking for photos for publication, I suggest you contact the respective museum directly.

Note on spelling: There are a number of armour elements that have multiple "correct" spellings (e.g., shaffron, chanfron, chamfron, champfrein). I try to use the most common spelling, or at least pick one and stick with it. I also generally follow the convention that "armour" is something you wear, and "armor" is something you drive (like a tank). Most American museums use "armor".