
These two "old soldiers" from 119 and 126 were sent up to me from NYC recently for some restitch. Both are M95 Wurttemberg helmets and are well marked to their regiments. Surprisingly, as we shall see, they correspond to two Wurtt members from my collection. I have 3 Wurtt helmets in the collection a 119, a 126 and an M15. This is quite a coincidence as far as I am concerned and will form part of this post.
So, the JR 119 only needed the rear visor stitched while both visors had to be done on the 126, I began with it. The 126 has suffered more abuse than it's brother and is a smaller helmet. Both helmets are well marked as we shall see:...JR 119 dated 1905 and 126..1913. To my mind, German helmets produced before the war, were well marked as part of the Imperial procurement process BUT things changed once war had been declared AND once the High Command realised that helmet markings could provide intelligence to the enemy. So let's have a look at the JR119:

A frontal view of JR 119, note the wide visor trim, spike etc is missing because I tell customers, I do not need them for a restitch. The wappen is loop backed. Note the crowns and stag antlers are not voided plus the fine stitching on the visor.

The rear visor is pined for restitch after all old thread has been cleaned out, the stitching is "finer", more stitches per "inch", and the visor seems longer than normal. I remember from back in my childhood,....finer stitching was a mark of quality on a leather product as it is today! Some things never change.....the softer the leather gloves or the leather jacket......+$$$$. All for now, more to come. B