"Because you don't need to sacrifice your appearance for Performance"
Bascinets
Here we have Bascinets. . .
These are the workhorse helms of most of the combat groups out there, primarily beause of their excellent glancing characteristics (blows tent to slip off of them, rather than sticking)
Designed specifically to accomodate interchangeable faceplates, and exceed the requirements of different martial disciplines; these helmets can be used in whatever styles you practice. Put on a durable stainless bargrill for SCA fighter practice. Switch out to a knight visor for the Pas de Armes that you're going to on the weekend. Put a smooth-rounded pierced metal faceplate on for fencing. Switch to a pierced-metal eyeslot Klappvisor for WMA practice next month. Wear it with no faceplate at all at the next re-enactment you attend. The capability is there for you to only have a single helm to fit all of these different requirements.
Performance Bascinets (along with all the other helmets in our Performance line) begin life as 10 guage 304 stainless steel, this insures that after shaping we end up with a helmet that's at least 12 guage in thickness. While this is considerably thicker than the helmets offered by most of our competitors, it is intended to be essentially dent-proof in normal use (translation. . . if someone puts a dent in one of these helmets, you need to have a serious conversation with the marshallate about excessive force, because they would have just given that guy in the 16 guage mild steel helmet a concussion).
We also offer these helmets in 16gage stainless steel, 14gage mild steel, and 18gage mild steel, to accomodate the armour requirements of various different combat systems.
First we computer-model your head from the measurements you provide, and use that model to size the pattern we use. We then use our 2.5 ton power hammer to shape the blanks. Then we weld the shapes inside and out, grind, and then polish the helmet to your specification. Finally, we add a standard center-mounted removable hinge, and a retention-lug for the standard faceplate closure strap.
A Performance Bascinet, with a Type-3 Cross Bargrill, Mirror-polish, Springpin closure, and a custom Jerusalem-Cross Etching.
A Performance Bascinet, with a Type-2 Sunburst Bargrill, Highly Polished, and Springpin Closures
$575 as shown
A Performance Bascinet with a Type-2 Barbute Bargrill, Complex Brasswork, and a satin Finish
$650 as shown
A Performance Bascinet with a Type-2 Barbute Bargrill, high polish, and filled Engraving (of the gentleman's arms)
$750 as shown
A Performance Bascinet with a High Polish, and a brass-filled engraving (of a latin saying of his choice)
$625 as shown
A Performance Bascinet shown, with a permanantly-fixed type 3 cross bargrill, vervelles, 24k Gold Plating, and Filled Heavy eagle-wing engraving. (truly unique and spectacular on the field!)
$1450 as shown
A Performance Bascinet shown, with a high polish, pierced faceplate, vervelles, and filled engraving.
