Medieval armour stolen from Marda Loop car reunited with owner before Buhurt competition

Jackson Lowe's suit of medieval armour made it back to him Wednesday, just in time for an international tournament — despite being stolen from his car over the weekend in Calgary's Marda Loop.

Lowe, from Lethbridge, and his girlfriend Annabelle Bird both compete in Buhurt, a form of armoured sports combat where participants dress as knights and engage in combat rounds. His black Stanley trunk case, containing the armour weighing around 80 pounds, was stolen sometime between the evening of July 10 and the morning of July 11.

The custom suit, which cost roughly $5,000 and took time to assemble from local and international pieces, includes a distinctive 15th-century Italian-style barbute helmet and splint legs made from leather and mild steel. "Probably the most distinctive part of the suit is my helmet," Lowe said. "Another feature of my armor that's pretty distinctive, I'd say compared to others, is the splint legs."

After noticing papers near his car the morning it was stolen, Lowe discovered his glove compartment had been rifled through and the trunk was gone. The thief left behind a smaller suitcase containing the gambison, the underlayer of the armour. "They were not interested in the smelly, sweaty, stinky gambisin," Lowe said.

On Wednesday morning, a member of Calgary's Buhurt community informed Lowe the armour had been located. A neighbour near the bus stop had found the heavy case abandoned a block and a half from Lowe's car and brought it home for safekeeping. The neighbour had even done a photoshoot of the armour before reaching out to the Buhurt community to arrange its return.

Bird picked up the trunk Wednesday afternoon. The timing couldn't have been better — Lowe and Bird are heading to the ICMF World Championship this coming Sunday.