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Fig. 454. Helm
English, about 1475-90. Collection: Captain H. Lindsay
of heraldic bars that have been riveted at intervals over the ocularium. As in the case of the Lindsay helm, the door closing the rectangular opening on the dexter side of the front plate is missing. Those readers who are attracted by the romance of the armour collector will be interested to learn that this helm and the one described on page 141 (Fig. 481) were said to have been discovered in London by Mr. Pratt, the well-known dealer in armour and arms of the first half of the XIXth century, to whom we shall have occasion to refer in a later volume of this work. The helms were purchased at the personal expense of the Prince Consort, who was informed that they were the helms which originally belonged to the respective tombs of Kings Henry VI and Edward IV. It was Mr. Pratt's tale that they had been missing from St. George's Chapel since the tombs in question were demolished by the Parliamentarians. After the purchase of the two head-pieces they were hung on staples near the spot where these kings were buried. No possible credence, however, can be attached to the attribution of their former Royal ownership, or to Mr. Pratt's supposed history of the helms; for, on the face of it, they do not correspond in date to the reigns of the
