Roman Cavalry Helmet Emperors Horse Guard Equites singulares Augusti Praetorian

Description

The Roman Emperors had the Praetorian Guard as their personal body guards which all were Italians only for most of the early empire.   However there was also an elite cavalry guard called the Equites singulares Augusti.  A recent program on TV which I just saw a few days ago showed that archeologist in Rome had stumped across the ancient burial ground for this group while repairing an underground water main break that drained into a mass grave.  Don't let the word mass grave fool you.  They were all buried in a particular way long before catacombs became the norm.   While the Praetorians were being cremated, the Equites were being buried.  Roman water repair crews had accidently come across the burial grounds for this elite horse guard of the Emperors called the Equites singulares Augusti.  It was a fascinating program.  All the horse cavalry of the Roman Empire period were none Italians.  If all Roman cavalry were none Italians during the Empire and Emperor's sometimes needed a horse guard when traveling or while on campaign, then this need had to be filled.  You had to meet a very high level of criteria in order to be picked for this elite cavalry force as only the best and bravest of Rome's provinces military equestrians were allowed to join.  Ancient text tell us the Roman cavalry wore a yellow crest on their helmets.  The helmet was done of the highest quality to try and capture the grandeur of this ancient elite cavalry horse guard of the Roman Emperors.  It is believed that the Romans liked to use silver tinning on their
armor making it more striking looking.
The silver tinning went according to plan except on the lower back neck guard (flat part) where some of the silver tinning went onto the brass that I wanted to remain brass but with silver edging.  This is the only area where this happened and at least is unseen on the lower back side of the helmet and under the horse hair tail helping to cover it.  The yellow horse hair crest is mentioned being used by the ancient Roman historians for Roman cavalry.  The silver and gold plated medallion of the emperor is copied from the Xanten cavalry helmet.
Note: It is my assertion that the corona aurea or gold crown as seen on this helmet
was awarded to this soldier.  It was a medal of honor and given to a soldier for saving the life of a fellow Roman.  Like todays medals like the purple heart, it is actually against the law for a person to wear this as their own award without actually having it awarded to him.  A few helmets being worn by Roman soldiers on Trajan's column show this award on the legionary's helmet as well under close examination.  This gold crown has also been found on a couple ancient helmet examples which this helmet replicates.  It is my opinion, that this award would have been unlawful to wear on the individuals Roman soldiers helmet without them ever having earned it just as it is today.  Even the mass produced iron cross had to be earned to be worn, which the punishment was severe if not.
" I have about 200 new custom made and designed items I will put up for sale, as well as my sword and sandal movie prop collection, my military miniature figure collection painted by Russian masters, my World War II collection, my ancient coin and ancient military artifact collection and other various military "militaria" items".
These will all be listed under the Terry Nix Collection III in the near future, so please keep checking back or you will miss that one of a kind item.