Reenactorstuff dot net

[M. Demetrius]

Reenactorstuff dot net is selling off its 5 line items of Roman gear for really good prices.

http://www.reenactorstuff.com/auction/cate...php?parent=1825

 

They have:

Brass Acquincum helmets

Caligae in various normal man's foot sizes

Pompeii gladii

Mainz gladii

Beaded pugiones (daggers)

 

The owner of the site says that when this present list of items is gone, there will be no more. All are made by Deepeeka in India. I don't work for them, just passing on a good deal I found on the Net. All those items are good for first or second Cent AD, or with the exception of the helmet 1st Cent BC, according to most reenactment groups. Always check with your own centurio before ordering ANYthing, or you might be embarrassed later.

Edited January 18, 2008 by M. Demetrius

[Primus Pilus]

I may be wrong here, not being a personal user of the stuff, but isn't Deepeeka rather controversial among re-enactors? I know some seem to swear by it, and others think it is junk. I suppose that's all a matter of preference, but am I off-base on this?

[M. Demetrius]

I may be wrong here, not being a personal user of the stuff, but isn't Deepeeka rather controversial among re-enactors? I know some seem to swear by it, and others think it is junk. I suppose that's all a matter of preference, but am I off-base on this?

Well, like every other manufacturer, some of their "replicas" are somebody's fanciful idea of what the [insert object name] as an artifact looked like. In truth, almost NO helmets made today are "authentic", no matter who makes them, since they are not made of exactly the same metal alloy, not fabricated by hand made tools, hand hammered using only homemade charcoal (a decently made single piece bronze helmet made with whatever tools the armorer feels like using can cost above a thousand dollars and will have a year or two waiting period) etc., etc. Nothing we do is the very same.

 

Having said that, the new versions of Deepeeka have been made or revised after talking to historians, many of whom furnished the equivalent of "blueprints" and measurements, and the helmets, for example, have been scaled up to fit modern Western heads. In short, they asked what people wanted to have that was regarded as authentic, and proceeded to make that, with supervision on the prototypes from historians and archaeologists. The brass is a little copper lean, compared to the originals (which was more like our "red brass", not the common "yellow brass"), and they use modern mild steel instead of hand smelted iron. But the shapes and details are about as close as can be expected. The particular helmet advertised is one of the generally approved ones. The new ones bear the suffix letter N after their catalog numbers. Bigwig reenactor/historian/archaeologist fellows have approved them.

 

The two gladii are regarded by most reenactor groups as good enough for starters, until the reenactor can afford one of the hand forged 200 to 800 dollar blades, and a sheath of similar price. The brass work on the Deepeeka lockets, chapes and gutters is copied from museum specimens.

 

The caligae do have machine stitching in the leather soles, and the hobnails used are not exactly the same shape and dimension as the Roman originals. The uppers have straps that are a little too wide for most people's taste, but a pair of good scissors can fix that in about an hour or so. Also, they are not custom fitted to the foot of the wearer, and may need a little tweaking to make them comfortable. Heck, I put a Dr. Scholl's gel pad with a leather oversole glued to it in mine. No sense in getting blisters, and my feet are not conditioned to hard leather soles with no heel, but with steel nails all over the bottom--very dangerous on polished floors, I guarantee from experience.

 

The beaded pugio is the least accurate, but in Deepeeka's defense, nearly none of the pugiones that are of the lower price category by them or the other suppliers are made the same way as the majority of museum specimens. There are a few who copy the blade contour very closely, and the cross section as well, and some of them are said to be pretty good replicas, but the prices are five or six times the price of these. Still, the majority of Roman reenactor groups will pass the Deepeeka beaded pugio, and those centuriones don't mind having them in their muster line.

 

So, I guess that's the sort of answer you were requesting? There are some groups that are so specific that unless you are wearing hand spun, hand woven, hand sewn Soay sheepwool tunicae, of the proper sized and ply of thread, proper natural Southern European dyestock, exact dimensions of some museum find, and unless your "persona" is perfectly period matched for every piece of gear (that they're looking up in their chosen textbook) you can't play with them. If your leather bag isn't from Southern Italian goatskins, if your sword isn't exactly like the specific one they've chosen, you can't carry it. Their lists go on. They are predictably small groups, with sore necks from their near vertical nasal postures.

 

Deepeeka isn't a custom fabricator. They're like the Chevrolet. Lonely Mountain Forge, Joe Pielo, and a dozen or more other armorers are the Cadillacs. In the end, both cars will get you there, but the prices are considerably different.

 

Primus Pilus, do you reenact, or do living history? If you do, surely you've met some of the "stitch counters" I'm referring to above. They're not much fun, and they really don't help further the hobby as much as they think they do, in my opinion. Authenticity is one thing, nitpicking is another.

[Primus Pilus]

Primus Pilus, do you reenact, or do living history? If you do, surely you've met some of the "stitch counters" I'm referring to above. They're not much fun, and they really don't help further the hobby as much as they think they do, in my opinion. Authenticity is one thing, nitpicking is another.

 

Thanks for the input Demetrius. No, I don't reenact, nor have I been involved with living history. I was asking out of pure curiosity, because I have heard widely differing opinions on Deepeeka. I wouldn't have a clue myself, but figured it might be a good thing to delve into for those who may be interested in buying some armor.

 

I suppose it's possibly just discriminatory against the manufacturers place or origin.

[M. Demetrius]

Well, like everything else, caveat emptor.

 

Do your research, be sure what you're getting, then be happy with the cheaper price. These five items are generally accepted in just about all the Reenactor Legions in the US, and reportedly in Europe. The helmet is the one most often seen on the Adamklissi Monument.