A fragment of a late 4th Century Roman helmet.  This fragment is the Ridge portion of the helmet.  It is about a 1/4 of the length of the original one, and would have secured the two helmet halves together in the center.

This piece appears to have been silvered, and was not covered in a silver or gold sheathing, as some more famous helmet were. 

There are punched concentric circle decorations that run along the edge in between the rivet holes.  The front center hole appears to have either been where the nasal section was riveted on, or perhaps where a Chi Rho crest was fasened to (such as shown on this original piece).  A set of punched lines run along the base of the ridge, providing a nice decorative highlight. The first two rivet holes near the top of the fragment show where the Ridge would have been riveted to the helmet base.

A nice green patina covers the piece, and the underside still has remnants of the water encrustations.

This is a rare piece, as most of the helmets had an Iron core and therefore very few survive today.  It is unknown if this piece was simple a bronze accent acting as the ridge portion of an otherwise Iron helmet, or if the entire helmet was in Bronze.  A part of a bronze helmet was sold in the Guttmann collection (see below), however I do nor know of any other bronze examples.

Guttmann Example

Similar helmet examples showing the Ridge area, from Koblenz & Augsburg

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Close Up View

Front View