On December 7 the London museum secured an English jack of plate and platesleeves, c.1580-90, at Thomas Del Mar’s Antique Arms, Armour & Militaria sale held an arrow-shot away at the auction ‘hub’ of 25 Blythe Road, West Kensington.
The jack of plate, which sold for a low-estimate £12,000, is formed of overlapping square plates of iron sewn within the inner and outer layers of a fabric doublet and would cover the upper body.
The platesleeves, offered as a separate lot bought by the V&A for £4500 (estimate £3000-5000), are also made up of columns of iron plates again between the outer and inner layers. As in the jack of plate, the iron is secured by crossbow twine.
Such armour was common at one stage particularly in northern England and Scotland, but is now extremely fragile and few examples remain because of the deterioration of the fabric.
Auctioneer Thomas Del Mar said: “It is a very rare thing – I don’t believe there’s been one on the market for the last 50 years. I’ve never seen one before at auction.
“They created considerable interest, and the main issue was that people felt across the board that it should not only be in a museum but stay in this country, so I’m delighted with the result.”
