| corona66 | 13 Jun 2017 9:18 a.m. PST |
I'm currently painting Peter Pig ECW figures and I''m not sure what to make of a late musketeer's headgear. It is helmet shaped so last week I painted it as a steel helmet, with the rationale that it had been in the musketeer's family for generations. This week I'm dealing with another of the same figure and now I'm wondering if the headgear is actually a hat, an early precursor of the bowler perhaps. Mr Goddard, you are the horse's mouth so to speak so I submit my question and thank you in advance. |
martin goddard  | 13 Jun 2017 9:46 a.m. PST |
I hear you!
I am guessing it is from the "musketeers in cap firing" pack? If so it is a woollen "Monmouth" cap. A knitted item with the lower part turned up to overlap the spherical shape. Imagine a skiers cap. If you know what pack it is from I can be more certain. happy to help |
| Supercilius Maximus | 13 Jun 2017 9:50 a.m. PST |
It's difficult to know without the pack number, but basically apart from the better equipped officers, musketeers didn't wear helmets during the ECW (in fact, a lot of pikemen didn't either, but that's another story). So I would suggest that the original figure you painted had either an English-style [pack 61] or Irish-style [pack 46] woolly hat (similar to a modern-day "beanie", the Irish version having a more raised crown), a Puritan-style high crowned hat [pack 60], or a normal everyday hat with the brim trimmed right down [pack 66, left hand figure]. The one thing it doesn't sound like is a montero [pack 66, middle figure]. Sorry, typed this whilst Martin was posting. |
| corona66 | 13 Jun 2017 11:06 a.m. PST |
Thank you gentlemen. Last week's figure is about to be repainted. |
| Jeff Ewing | 13 Jun 2017 5:47 p.m. PST |
That's wild that a Monmouth cap is totally a beanie ( link ). If you saw a guy wearing one in a movie you might think "Oh, look at that farb, guess the movie's costume budget didn't extend to correct hats!" |
| Supercilius Maximus | 14 Jun 2017 3:52 a.m. PST |
Amongst the real hoi polloi at the start of the war, it was probably THE most common headgear for the infantry soldier. |
| Elenderil | 16 Jun 2017 3:51 p.m. PST |
It's a really good bit of kit too. As a reenactment musketeer I much prefer a Monmouth to a brimmed felt hat. The brim on a felt hat gets in the way when shouldering a musket a Monmouth doesn't. |
| Supercilius Maximus | 16 Jun 2017 11:15 p.m. PST |
I've been told that pikemen also preferred them to brimmed hats for the same reason. |
| julian bonny | 23 Apr 2025 6:01 a.m. PST |
Calling Martin Goddard any response Martin ?
link Takes your money but doesnt send the goods
Martin goddard of Peter Pig is the type of small businessman who takes payment for an order, confirms the order, then doesnt send the order, then says they have issued a refund, then doesnt issue the refund and then refuses to communicate with the customer about what is happening to the point where by the customer has to issue a final demand letter but then still does not issue a refund or send the goods which have been paid for. |
| KeepYourPowderDry | 23 Apr 2025 1:23 p.m. PST |
But back to the OP, it is most probably a Monmouth cap as others have stated. Yes, slightly bonkers in that it is essentially a modern beanie. Original examples: one in Monmouth museum see link Several Dutch equivalents in the Rijksmuseum see link |
looks at a multi-period building.