The pieces are an iron helmet and breastplate with gold inlays, produced in the Milan area in the second half of the 16th century.

On 1 May, 1983, the display case in which the pieces were in appeared destroyed and the circumstances of their disappearance remain unknown.

The pieces were located in Bordeaux in mid-January in the context of an inheritance, when the antiques expert on the case alerted the police of his suspicion about their origin.