Bevor/Buffe mid 16th c.
Typically associated with Brunswick armours of the mid 16th c. Relatively rare piece. The buff was secured to the breastplate instead of the more typical style that was strapped to the burgonet. This resembles the 15th c. bevors that were used with salades and other open faced helmets. Formed of 2 plates. The main plate with a hole to accept a peg on the breastplate, a raised roped ridge which would cover the rolled edge of the breastplate and shaped to the chin. The upper plate overlapping the main plate and rising to a point at the center. Inward turned roll at the upper edge. Each plate marked with seven center punch marks on the wearer's right side. The upper plate is held up with a spring catch in the lower plate. Depressing this allows the upper plate to drop. The surface is overall rough and pitted. It may originally have been rough from the hammer. The buff includes a mechanism to secure it to the breastplate. This includes a hook which would engage a hole in the peg in the breastplate. The hook is held in place by an external spring. Both the spring and hook are decorated with filed decoration (worn).
Similar items can be found in Churburg, KHM (A 1212 - S. 104 illustrated on plate 70 and A 499 - S-89f illustrated on plate 35 in KHM Waffensammlung V II and the what appears to be an earlier form in the Bayerisches National Museum (inv. no. W.646 illustrated on page 618 of The Knight and the Blast Furnace). Another highly decorated is illustrated on plate LV and catalogued as #119 in "The Kretzschmar von Kienbusch Collection of Armor and Arms" - Princeton University Press 1963.
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