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Extremely rare Burgundy of the Order of Santo Stefano di Toscana
datable to the beginning of the seventeenth century: tile and stretched in two halves riveted, the top of the crest and the profile of the visor touches to pretend to be twisted; two neck guard blades to protect the nape of the neck with a strongly enveloping shape, the gutter also touches the edge to pretend to be twisted; hinged cheek pads, bearing rosettes of eight plus a hole in the center, worked at the edge with the usual twisted cord motif; frontally equipped with a fixed nosepiece in the shape of a leaf, probably an ancient modification to replace a mobile protection, sliding within a bridge with a wing nut; the brim bears the mark of a star or four-petaled flower on the obverse, on the reverse mark of an octagonal cross, symbol of the Order, on the tile the marks "G" and "P" are clearly visible in the knight of the crest, indicating belonging to the ancients deposits of the Gioco del Ponte in Pisa; in good condition with a nice old patina.
Another example, identical to the helmet presented, is present in the Stibbert Museum in Florence (L: G: Boccia 1975 cat. N ° 70 plate 69 and Lensi 1917 pag. 302 n ° 1819). Among the most ancient materials belonging to the historical deposit of the aforementioned Game there are also three remains of defensive armaments marked with the punch of the octagonal cross, defined by Boccia as "of exceptional interest" as it would prove that in Pisa the Order possessed its ammunition arsenal