4th century BC. A bronze helmet of Chalcidian typology, Kunze Gruppe VIII, the bowl formed from a single piece of metal, slightly peaked with carinated ridge around the top, long nasal and flared rim; moulded band restored around the eyes, the cheek-pieces with restored edges, connected to the bowl by a two-part hinge; traces of tinned surface. See Pflug, H., 'Chalkidische Helme' in: Antike Helme, RGZM Monographien 14, Mainz, 1988, pp. 137—150; Chernenko, E.V., The Scythians 700-300 BC, Hong Kong, 1998; Hixenbaugh, R., Ancient Greek Helmets, aplete guide and catalogue, New York, 2019, figs.X278, X279. 954 grams, 28cm wide (11"). Private collection of Mr M.B., Mainz, Germany, 1990s. Property of a London binessman. Apanied by an archaeological report by military specialist Dr Raffaele D'Amato. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is apanied by AIAD certificate number no.11112-183016. Although some specimens have been found in Macedonia, Thrace, Continental Greece (Tithorea, Kalapodi, fragment of helmet of type V, today at the Meum of Lamia, inv. No. B20) and South Italy, the Chalcidian Black Sea group has mainly been found in the area of Greek colonisation and trade, especially around the territories of the actual Crimea and to the East in what is now Georgia and Abkhazia. By the 5th century BC, many of the Scythian kings and nobles opted for ‘foreign’ style Greek helmets and greaves – possibly as a show of prosperity and military richness. Archaeological excavations that pertain to this period have unearthed over 60 fascinating specimens of Greek helmets (mainly of Corinthian and Chalcidian-Attic types) that were actually manufactured in mainland Greece and then ped across the Black Sea into the Scythian heartlands via the wealthy Greek Bosphoran colonies. The employment of Scythian mercenaries by the Greek cities, also favoured the cultural interchange with the Steppe warriors from a military point of view, with the result that Scythians and Meotians, and then Sarmatians, increasingly purchased or obtained helmets and other weaponry from the Greeks, often remodelling them after their own fashion.