An Interesting 15th C. Nuremberg Mail Shirt Fragment With Mark

[cornelistromp]

interesting, if the marks are indeed identical, you're right and I'm really terribly wrong.
not because they are the same but because it is unlikely that 3 similar tags appear as close to each other at auctions.

Do you have pictures of the brass tags of the 2 lots of those auctions? :
The first lot sold October 2008 388 on a shirt not excavated mail with missing or poor quality parts.
The second solder October 2009 lot 421 not excavated on a small mail fragment.

One side note:
the brass rings from your other thread are certainly cast and chased, but this has been done in the 15th century.

There were in the 15th century 2 techniques for casting;
the so-called lost-wax technique by the direct method:
the ring was first carefully modeled in beeswax and then covered with clay and the clay was allowed to dry. The whole assembly was heated in a furnace which both fired the clay and burned out the wax (hence the term "lost wax"). The mold was then filled with molten metal. After cooling, the clay mold was broken away, revealing the original wax model as well as the sprues, now transformed into metal. The sprues were cut away and the brass characters are worked with tools ("chased") to the desired degree of finish. here the original model is destroyed and it is not possible to recieve 2 similar casts!

the second method is the lostwax indirect method, involve casting a second model in wax, the so-called intermodel, from the original model made by the sculptor. Once an intermodel has been made, it can be cast in metal exactly as described for direct casting. indirect casting was well known to the Greeks as early as the seventh century B.C. and riveved in the 15thC.
With this technique it was posible in the 15thC onwards to cast multiple similar casts.
like the Nuremberg tag.

but as I said very unlikely that so many suddenly appear

best,

[Swordfish]

Here are the photos of the two other marks.

Additional I have attached a photo of a mail shirt, sold Christies May 2008, with a shield-mark inscribed Statt Nurmberg, fixed with a rivet.

I know the methods of casting in medieval times.

But believe me. These rings and shields are stamped and punched!
If you once have made the tools, its only a work of seconds to make a mark from a piece o brass sheet metal.

The ring with the name borsteken has a thickness of only 0.7 mm, the height of the minuscules is 0.3 mm, the whole thickness therefore 1 mm.
The rounded surface, which resembles a cast item , comes from years of wear.

Best

[cornelistromp]

thanks for the pictures, with this new information I must conclude that indeed it does not look good.

there is probably someone trying to falsify the origin and multiply the value of mail and pieces of mail.

best,