As an apprentice blacksmith, yeah. I would have difficulty attempting to make that thing out of bronze, and would definitely learn more about smithing than I do now, just making the thing.
We’re also in the 21st century, with an abundance of wealth and material possessions the past could only imagine. We can afford lots of useless shit laying around.
I’ve always leant towards the gloves theory myself.
If it's a display of skill then it's an advertisement, which is useful. Then again, I'm not an archaeologist or historian, and even if I was apparently I'd still have no clue.
True but who are you going to advertise to? A village would be lucky to have a smith at all, and travel was dangerous so you’re not going to go shopping for someone else. Especially not in the backwater edges of the Roman Empire/Britain.