Felt saxon

[Grabenmaxx]

This one just arrived today from the US. Was the first time buying overseas and was a bit uncertain about taxes and so on but turner out to be manageable.

It's a Saxon felt artillery helmet.
I like Artillerie Hauben and i found this really cool straight away. The liner is really smooth and there are still 2 labels on the inside.

But can someone tell me what exactly are we looking at here? It has a removable M15 ball and the metal parts look sort of brass at first but they're not. Is it all genuine?

 

[Bobted]

Interesting! I am no expert on the why, what and when but it looks very nice. Rob

 

[gino1]

looks good to me, maybe remove the coat of arms, maybe you can see more of the ghost that the shield leaves behind, well in America there is still nice stuff, unfortunately sometimes it is a lot of searching, or a collector here gives something away, we wait patiently

 

[b.loree]

Looks fine to me and that maker is well known. Perhaps some sort of brass coloured finish was put on the fittings??

 

[Rkinkade]

Nice helmet! I love the labels. I believe the steel fittings, to include the kugel base, brads, neck guard, and visor trim have been painted gold. This was commonly done after the war to brighten up a drab grey trimmed helmet and make it look like the brass ones. Not so sure about the ball. It almost looks like brass electro-plateing. I have used acetone solvent to carefully remove the added paint in the past with satisfying results. Lots of “elbow grease” and patience involved. If the original finish was grey painted instead of grey phosphate, you run the risk of removing some of that. Or find rusty fittings beneath the paint. Maybe just enjoy it as is!

 

[2nd.Leibhusar]

Great looking helmet , Jurgen

 

[Grabenmaxx]

Thanks for the comments. I'll try to make some more detailed pictures. The more I look at it, the stranger i find the metal. I appreciate all opinions.

 

[Grabenmaxx]

Here the holes in the top.
Seems to be created by hand. Not a single one is completely round as it should be.

 

[Lars13]

The more I look at it, the stranger i find the metal.

The inside of the disk for the ball (visible on the picture of the inside of the helmet) seems to be painted grey, if that is true then I would think the whole helmet was grey at some point in time. However the paint looks nicely done, and painted grey metal also fits the grey / golden ball, so I would leave it as is. It would be a shame to remove the paint, only to find out later that it was done when manufacturing the helmet; there are a lot of details of the manufacturing process at the time we still don't know.
Regards,
Lars