A RARE NORTH ITALIAN SALLET, CIRCA 1500 with hemispherical skull rising to a low medial ridge, centrally-cusped brow-plate arched over the face, and short tail-plate projecting backwards to a rounded end, each attached to the former by a pair of rivets (that at the right of the tail-plate broken out), the lowest plates in each case formed with a plain inward turn (the whole heavily corroded and showing some rust perforations, chips, delamination of the metal, small brazed repairs, a working-life riveted repair at the nape and a more recent repair at the centre of the tail) 19.8cm; 7¾in high This sallet shows a preservation typical of pieces obtained from the armoury of the Knights of St John at Rhodes which fell to the Turks in 1522/3. It can be compared with sallets from that source now preserved in the Royal Armouries Museum, Leeds (IV. 481), the Higgins Armoury Museum, Worcester, Mass. (880), and several private collections (W. Karcheski & T. Richardson 2000, pp. 9 & 13-15).