How to properly conserve pickelhaubes?

[Milguy18]

I recently acquired my first pickelhaube and I’m nervous on how to display it. I know to keep it away from sunlight so I have curtains covering the windows. It’s currently sitting on a foam head with a piece of cloth between the foam and the helmet. I’m going to get a humidity detector as well. If the humidity is within safe levels will I be fine?

 

[ussguppy]

Hi, there is a restoration section of the forum for these type of topics that should answer most of your questions. Pictures always help.

In short, I would keep it away from any leather treatments and just keep it in a controlled environment. Its practically really simple.

The Styrofoam head is oil based and will react poorly with the helmet, so I personally use a wine glass to keep the weight off the visors which will help preserve the stitching.

Gabe

 

[gino1]

Everyone has their own way of making them shine.
Here I hold my pickelhaube underneath with a beer glass (Duvel glass)Belgian beer

 

[Khukri]

I use beer glasses-Trappist. Never foam heads. And an ugly stand can be camouflaged.
Natural-unbleached thick cotton layers between the [sharp] edge of the glass and the liner.

I recently acquired my first pickelhaube and I’m nervous on how to display it. I know to keep it away from sunlight so I have curtains covering the windows. It’s currently sitting on a foam head with a piece of cloth between the foam and the helmet. I’m going to get a humidity detector as well. If the humidity is within safe levels will I be fine?

 

[Milguy18]

I use beer glasses-Trappist. Never foam heads. And an ugly stand can be camouflaged.
Natural-unbleached thick cotton layers between the [sharp] edge of the glass and the liner.

Thank you for the advice on displaying. Using glasses is a really smart idea. Here’s some pictures of my pickelhaube

 

[coert65]

Thank you for the advice on displaying. Using glasses is a really smart idea. Here’s some pictures of my pickelhaube

I also use glasses for displaying my helmets. The nice thing about them, is they are fairly invisible, and, also you can find them in different height sizes. Find the right size, so the visors are about 3cm from the place where you put them for display. It makes them seemingly "floating on air".


It also prevents the stitching of the visors from stress, so the stitching is safe too. No more loose visors.

Regards, Coert.