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Physical Object / Spanish Breastplate

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Title
Spanish Breastplate
Creator
Unknown
Date Created and/or Issued
circa 1500s-1700s
Publication Information
Museum of Ventura County
Contributing Institution
Museum of Ventura County
Collection
Object Collection
Rights Information
Museum of Ventura County. All rights reserved.
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."
Type
physical object
Format
Physical Object (Breastplate)
Identifier
0000-29.47
Language
English
Subject
Breastplates
Discovery and exploration--Spanish
Place
California
Ventura County (Calif.)
Source
Donated by: J. P. Rasmussen Accession No.: 0000-29.47

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