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Higgins Armory Collection

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Higgins Armory Collection

The Higgins Collection is now at Worcester Art Museum. Follow us to continue the Higgins tradition!

02/05/2026

Dive into the Viking Age using our 3D model on Sketchfab to get a closer look at this sword!

During the Viking Age, metalworkers were finally able to make long, thin blades that could take on heavy blows, making them rise in popularity. The skill required to forge a sword made it an expensive weapon, and fine examples like this one were status symbols for their owners.

While this sword has oxidized over time, when you look up close you can still see signs of wear from its working life--imagine the combat this sword might have seen. Decorated with a silver hilt, the owner could have been an important figure, or at least had great style!

If you had your own sword would you want a gold or silver hilt?

Let us know what you think!

Viking Sword with silvered hilt. Northern European, late 800s. Steel and silver inlay. The John Woodman Higgins Armory Collection, 2021.22

https://skfb.ly/pCMwI (Sketchfab)

https://worcester.emuseum.com/objects/57737/viking-age-sword-with-silvered-hilt?ctx=58dd913dcccdf7a03f7c2954429a05ad4d45eb5b&idx=0 (Collections Data)

02/02/2026

Take a look at this interactive 3D Model of Armor for Field and Tilt! The suit of armor is homogenous, with each piece original and made for the suit. The letters S and R found on the back of the helmet stand for the armorer Stefan Rormoser, who completed the armor in 1554 according to dates engraved on the belly and back of the armor. Rormoser’s client was the distinguished Austrian nobleman Franz von Teuffenbach of Styria, who is represented on the breastplate of the suit by an armored man kneeling before a crucifix. Teuffenbach is identified by his name, which is etched on a scroll across the top of the breastplate. Etched below the left shoulder guard is the diamond-shaped image of the "Order of Barbary,” which commemorates Teuffenbach’s military service against the Ottoman Turks in Tunis in 1535.

To view this object as well as others, go to the link below, or find a clickable link in our Linktree located in our bio.
https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/armor-for-field-and-tilt-201480-056e7c1ee5d5437e9bc82f67e3cede7a

Armor for Field and Tilt, of Count Franz von Teuffenbach (1516-1578). Austrian, 1554. Steel, brass, lampblack, restored leather. The John Woodman Higgins Armory Collection, 2014.80.

01/29/2026

Want to see a piece of armor up close and personal from your very own home? Check out this 3D interactive model of a Breastplate from a Siege Cuirass on Sketchfab! As fi****ms became more and more powerful, armor began to be designed to withstand bullets. The thick iron of this breastplate provided protection against bullets. On the front you can see a number of bullet marks, and on the back you can see a repair at the belly where the metal was broken by a bullet and patched with a small iron plate. While armor like this could stop a bullet, it is extremely heavy: at nearly 25 lbs, it weighs almost half as much as a full suit of medieval knightly armor! This was manageable in the trench warfare of a siege, but too heavy to be worn by soldiers marching on the battlefield, a good example of why armor would largely die out over the following century.

To view this object as well as others, go to the link below, or find a clickable link in our Linktree located in our bio.

https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/breastplate-from-a-siege-cuirass-201441-a1053cc7d5ff4e969bf203c81e8b4282

Breastplate from a Siege Cuirass. Probably German or Austrian, 1590–1600. Steel, brass, black paint. The John Woodman Higgins Armory Collection, 2014.4.1

01/26/2026

Tessa is a senior at the College of the Holy Cross pursuing a double major in Studio Art and English. As a Worcester native, she has made a lifetime of visits to the WAM and the Higgins Armory Collection. Tessa is extremely excited to serve her community and welcome others to the new Arms and Armor Galleries, where she is hopeful to apply her practical art skills and literature studies to offer new and engaging perspectives to the team!
In her free time, she enjoys knitting, traveling, and being with her closest friends.

Gorget for an officer of the city militia (Netherlandish). Late 1700s. Gilt brass. The John Woodman Higgins Armory Collection, 2014.5"

01/22/2026

Meet Annie Overbaugh, one of the WAM’s newest Arms and Armor Interns! Annie is a student at Clark University pursuing her undergraduate degree in Art History. She is excited to begin working with the newly opened Arms and Armor Galleries and to learn more about the Higgins Collection. She hopes her studies in Art History and previous museum experience will be useful in serving the museum and its guests. In her free time, she enjoys reading and crocheting.

Sword of Schalenknaupf ("bowl-pommel") type, about 1000–800 BCE. Bronze. The John Woodman Higgins Armory Collection, 2014.6

01/19/2026

Check out this 3D model on our Sketchfab page! This poleyn — a knee guard from a suit of armor — shows how brilliant armor design could be. Its overlapping plates slide over each other so the wearer can bend the knee freely without exposing it to danger. And that heart-shaped extension? It helps protect the vulnerable back of the knee, one of the trickiest spots to cover in plate armor.
The interior of joints like the knee and elbow, and parts of the body that pressed against a rider's horse couldn’t be fully plated, so they relied on smart engineering like this — often with mail underneath for backup protection.

Poleyn for the right knee with extension plate. Probably Italian, about 1400–1420. Steel. The John Woodman Higgins Armory Collection, 2014.909
https://skfb.ly/pCOxL

01/15/2026

The last of the series featuring the students work from Prof. Stella Wang’s Romance & Conquest in British Literature at Emmanuel College! In this video, Bella St. Martin connects an axehead from the Higgins Collection to the axe used in the beheading game (!) at the center of the story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. This axehead has just gone on view as one of the nearly 1000 objects in the Open Storage section of our newly opened Arms and Armor Galleries--if you’re looking, you can find it at the very bottom of zone 9!

Head of a "Bearded" Axe, possibly English. 1000–1350. Iron. The John Woodman Higgins Armory Collection, 2014.675

01/08/2026

Today we continue to showcase student works from Prof. Stella Wang’s Romance & Conquest in British Literature at Emmanuel College.

In this delightful GRWM video, Elizabeth Costello explores the meanings of our Philip II gauntlets, which are among the star objects now on view in our newly opened Arms and Armor Galleries!

Desiderius Helmschmid, Right Gauntlet for Prince (later King) Philip of Spain (1527-1598),
German. 1549–1550. Steel, brass, and leather with gilding. The John Woodman Higgins Armory Collection, 2014.1155.14.

01/05/2026

Last summer, local professor Stella Wang volunteered as part of the Higgins team to help with the gallery project and learn more about the collection. This semester, students in her course Romance & Conquest in British Literature at Emmanuel College produced short videos making connections between the arms and armor of the Higgins Collection and the medieval literature they studied. Over the next two weeks, we'll be sharing a few highlights.

In this video, Althea McHugh connects our early medieval umbo (a metal fitting from the center of a wooden shield, serving to protect the hand) to the dragon fight in Beowulf. You can see the umbo on view in our Medieval Galleries!

Umbo (shield boss), possibly German. About 500s. Iron with brass discs. The John Woodman Higgins Armory Collection, 2014.690

01/01/2026

Happy New Year! Start the year with history, craftsmanship, and a sense of wonder.
Come visit the Arms and Armor Galleries in the New Year.
Timed ticket reservations are required. Please visit:
https://www.worcesterart.org/exhibitions/arms-and-armor/
You are welcome to visit the rest of the museum before or after your reservation time.

12/29/2025

Going for the Throat: This ornate gorget (armored collar) was created in 1630 for the formidable 70-year-old French Huguenot soldier-statesman, Maximilien de Béthune, the Duke of Sully (1560-1641). Béthune fought alongside Henry IV in France’s bloody religious wars. His later work as a civil servant placed war-torn France on the path to peacetime success as a world power.

The gorget’s etched surface features a galloping horse and a regal stag in a lush world alive with animals, insects, and spouting vines. Béthune’s love of nature is reflected in his choice of armor decoration. Newly printed books filled with imagery of the natural world fired the imagination of 17th-century French nobility and foreshadowed the Enlightenment Movement.

Gorget of Maximilien de Béthune, Duke of Sully. French, about 1630. Etched brass.
5 1/8 x 8 ¼ x11 ¼ in.; 1lb. 6 oz. John Woodman Higgins Armory Collection, 2014.784

Address

55 Salisbury Street
Worcester, MA
01609

Opening Hours

Wednesday	10am - 4pm
Thursday	10am - 4pm
Friday	10am - 4pm
Saturday	10am - 4pm
Sunday	9am - 5pm

Telephone

+15087994406

Website

https://worcesterart.org/collection/higgins-collection/

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