Spanish Breastplate

Image

Spanish Breastplate

Title

Spanish Breastplate

Identifier

0000-29.47

Source

Donated by: J. P. Rasmussen
Accession No.: 0000-29.47

Description

Steel plate, curved at the waist, chest and shoulders. One hole is pierced in the center of each shoulder and underarm. Short split in metal at center of neck opening.

In the 1870s, two boys reportedly found this breastplate on the beach when it still had a cloth lining on the underside. It was later lost and then rediscovered in 1890.

An article ran in the Ventura Free Press on April 15, 1890 reading, "John McFadden's son plowed up a curiosity recently on George C. Power's place on Meta Street. It was an iron breastplate; it was considerably affected by rust, but still in a fair state of preservation. It was about two feet long and made to cover the breast of a small man. It is of iron or steel, one-eighth of an inch thick. It was probably from Spain, brought by some very early Spanish voyager."

Creator

Unknown

Date

circa 1500s-1700s

Format

Physical Object (Breastplate)

Subject

Breastplates
Discovery and exploration--Spanish

Coverage

California
Ventura County (Calif.)

Publisher

Museum of Ventura County

Rights

Museum of Ventura County. All rights reserved.

Type

Physical Object

Language

English

Collection

Citation

Unknown, “Spanish Breastplate,” Research Library at The Museum of Ventura County, accessed March 29, 2024, https://photographs.venturamuseum.org/items/show/4673.