Metal stands and armatures for armor

Over the years, I have built a number of metal stands for reproduction and antique armors and parts of armor. For a while I was building "wire frame" stands to mimic the whole body. I am currently doing the full body stands from wood. I have recently built a number of stands for partial armors or individual pieces from metal. These allow for a different style of display where you try to hide the armature and allow visitors to see inside pieces. I have also inherited some stands along with armors I have purchased. These are often old and broken, and shipping stands across the pond is terribly expensive. I generally just let the seller keep those. But I do have a few that came with armors on this side of the pond.

breakdown steel and wood stand for a Pisan half armor Pisan half armor
This isn't strictly a "metal" stand. The structure is metal but it incorporates a wooden shoulder form. This stand came with this half armor when I bought it. It has a specific set of design points, and it works well for them. This was used as a travelling stand as this armor went from show to show, so it needed to break down. It sits on a plate base which is secured to the vertical square support with a thumbscrew. Then the square central pole is extended by a telescoping piece of square tubing that allows the height to be adjusted with another thumbscrew. The waist is stabilized by a loop (which can be removed, and adjusted up and down with another thumbscrew), and the shoulders are constructed of an old wooden shoulder form (likely from a store display for suits). The head is a bent and welded 1/4" rod that is inserted into a hole in the top of the shoulder support. This is the stand which started the trend of using wire to support arms and gauntlets. You can see the hooks used to secure the top of the wire on the front of the shoulder mount.
armature built to display gorget, breast, spaulders and elbows armature built to display gorget, breast, spaulders and elbows parts of armor assembled
This is an armature that I built to support a few pieces in a position that would reflect how they could have been worn together. This was designed to minimize the visibility of the stand and support the pieces. The gorget is carefully supported by the two shoulder arcs which extend forward to provide some support for the breastplate and the gorget is kept in position with the central rear post. This also helps hold the neck plates up. Keeping the gorget in place supports the breastplate in a reasonable relative position. Then I added the bent frames to support the spaulders and elbows. This stand allows you to look inside the armor and see interior details.
armature built to display gorget with integral shoulders, breast, and back armature built to display gorget with integral shoulders, breast, and back armature built to display gorget with integral shoulders, breast, and back parts of armor assembled
This is an armature that I built to support a few pieces in a position that would reflect how they could have been worn together. This was designed to minimize the visibility of the stand and support the pieces. The gorget is carefully supported by the two shoulder arcs which extend forward to provide some support for the breastplate and the gorget is kept in position with the upper central forward facing post. Keeping the gorget in place supports the breastplate in a reasonable relative position. In addition, there is a post to keep the center of the breast out in the right position. The spiders at the shoulders support the gorget and keep the shoulders from collapsing. This stand allows you to look inside the armor and see interior details. This stand can be taken apart for travel. Most of it collapses pretty well. The shoulder spiders could be made more convenient if at least one of the arcs could be turned sideways, but this works.
stand built to display a long gorget used without a breastplate stand built to display a long gorget used without a breastplate gorgets on the stands
This shows a set of stands I made to display gorgets. In this case the gorgets are long in the front, designed for use without a breatplate, and they do not have separate neck lames. This means that the pieces have to be supported at the shoulders and at the front. The shoulders keep the plates positioned correctly (so that the plates don't collapse) and the front keeps the piece at a nice angle. There is no need to separately support neck lames, since there aren't any.
Stands holding a buffe that is normally secured to a breastplate and a kneStands holding a buffe that is normally secured to a breastplate and a knee Stands holding a buffe that is normally secured to a breastplate and a kneStands holding a buffe that is normally secured to a breastplate and a knee Stands holding a buffe that is normally secured to a breastplate and a kneStands holding a buffe that is normally secured to a breastplate and a knee Stands holding a buffe that is normally secured to a breastplate and a kneStands holding a buffe that is normally secured to a breastplate and a knee
Other single pieces of armor can be displayed stand alone. This shows two pieces from various angles including the back which illustrates how the custom stand was constructed. The one on the left allows the buffe to sit in a position that is similar to its position when it is secured to a breastplate for normal wear. The one on the right allows the knee to be displayed in a partially bent pose which shows off the details of the piece.
Four different single items on custom stands.
This shows several different individual stands (3 of which are displayed above) together.
Stands made for the display at the Orange County Historical Museum. Stands made for the display at the Orange County Historical Museum.
This shows all of the stands used to construct an exhibit at the Orange County Historical Museum (NC). The second image shows the temporary staging I created to verify the relationship between the pieces. This was part of a larger show of local collections. Each of the stands was constructed to allow for the proper display of a particular piece in the limited space allowed for the display. Most of the stands include some adjustability to allow for the piece to be moved up, down or angled depending on what made sense for that piece. The gauntlet stands and the breastplate stand used foam to shield the pieces from the surface of the stands. The helmet stands use wooden blocks to prevent wear. I decided that the actual weight and contact points were small enough that the tasset stands could be used as-is. I usually paint stands black but the display had a white base, so I painted the stands white to somewhat blend with the background.

Tasset end plate mounts were built for 2 of the end plates. The first just sat on the base of the display, the next two were built to raise each up just enough to allow them to all be seen. Each allowed the piece to be tilted to allow the piece to look straight even if the bottom edge was not level. The contact points are kept small and there is support for the top and bottom to maintain the piece at a specific angle.

The gauntlet stands were designed to support the central part of each gauntlet and to allow each to droop to its full normal extent. This helps show off the organic form of the pieces.

The breastplate and full tasset stands are one-offs for this show and specific pieces. The breastplate stand is based on an adjustable one that I built for photography. This stand didn't need the flexibility I need to be able to mount any and all breastplates, so it was built with one set of hooks and at one width. It is adjustible for height. The full tasset stand was designed to hook to the buckles at the top of the tasset and allow me to adjust the height. The rest of the geometry is static.

Each of the stands which allow for adjustment uses small set screws that thread into thick wall tubing or welded on threaded plates.