Cork Lined Leather Shell Garde Zu Fuss Officer’s Pickelhaube?

J

Jmf4508

New member
Hello all…I’m not a new collector per se - I bought my first (of many) imperial German helmets and hats back in 1978 and have a reasonably sizeable collection of various items - so I am generally pretty experienced with design, construction etc of such helmets. However, in looking through the Grenadier Auctions website, I noted a Prussian Garde Zu Fuss regiment officers pickelhaube that is interesting. It look OK, but it has one feature I’ve never seen before - the leather shell’s interior appears to be lined with cork.

Has anyone encountered this before?

I’ve appended the link to the item at auction (closing this afternoon). The cork is noted in the description and I’ve appended some photos and a link to the item.

Not sure I’d take the plunge but the cork lining is interesting….

Thoughts anyone?

Hibid

grenadierauctions.hibid.com grenadierauctions.hibid.com

Mike
Vancouver
 

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Black shellac coated felt? That is my thought. I have several officer helmets made as I stated, but they have black or green felt showing on the interior. One has green felt that has a waxed paper coating.

Ron
 
To my eyes....yes a lacquer/shellac covered felt officer helmet. I have worked on a couple of these. The last one had a black felt interior. There is a post of the restoration here.
 
Nor do I think of a cork lining. However, it may be Vulkanfiber, close to bakelite (vegetable fibre, coated with pine resin) and lacquered with black rubber.
 
All - Thanks very much for your input.

I did subsequently learn that the "cork" was "cork-like" (likely a felt). It covered the entire inside of the bombe (shell). Leather couldn't be confirmed - so as suggested, likely Vulkanfiber.

Probably a wartime/ersatz make.

Last bid was $9000. It didn't meet reserve.

Many thanks again for your input and help.

I'll keep my powder dry for the upcoming HH auction! 😎

Mike
PS - as a thank you - I've attached a few quick shots of my imperial German collection. I'm a bit eclectic - imperial german is a subset of a larger collection including WW2 German, Canadian and Polish. Enjoy.
Enjoy!
 

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Nice! Any chance to get a closeup of the SS helmet / decal? That’s my old stomping grounds. Did you get the SS Panzer Officer overseas cap from Shea by chance? I’m from Edmonton so we are pretty close!
 
Hi Doug - happy to share some pix. I'll dig it out and send some to you in the am. It's an M40 DD I got from Bill Shea.

And good eye - the overseas cap should look familiar - I did get it from Bill at an SOS a few years ago. In his COA it notes it was featured in his and Beaver's book on cloth headgear of the SS. The attribution in it as I recall is yours.

It's a great piece. Thanks for allowing it to be passed on!

I'll reconnect tomorrow with the pix. And good to "meet" a neighbour!

Mike
 
Jmf4508 said:
Hi Doug - happy to share some pix. I'll dig it out and send some to you in the am. It's an M40 DD I got from Bill Shea.

And good eye - the overseas cap should look familiar - I did get it from Bill at an SOS a few years ago. In his COA it notes it was featured in his and Beaver's book on cloth headgear of the SS. The attribution in it as I recall is yours.

It's a great piece. Thanks for allowing it to be passed on!

I'll reconnect tomorrow with the pix. And good to "meet" a neighbour!

Mike
Click to expand...

Hi Mike, I thought that SS Pz Officer overseas cap was my old one! Bill bought many of my old SS helmets and am curious if this is one of my old helmets as well! Always good to see my old pieces and in a Canadian collection as well, that’s great!

My compliments on your collection!
 
Yes, some of my "vulkanfiber" helmets have the same internal appearance. This 1GRzuF officer's helmet looks pretty good to me. However, there is a noticeable discrepancy in the star insignia.CIMG9618.JPG Ertz0 vulkanfibr2 1pièce moulé.JPGBING vulkanfiber M15 en carton.JPGErtz0 vulkanfiber riveté.JPG
 
Jmf4508 said:
Hi Doug - happy to share some pix. I'll dig it out and send some to you in the am. It's an M40 DD I got from Bill Shea.

And good eye - the overseas cap should look familiar - I did get it from Bill at an SOS a few years ago. In his COA it notes it was featured in his and Beaver's book on cloth headgear of the SS. The attribution in it as I recall is yours.

It's a great piece. Thanks for allowing it to be passed on!

I'll reconnect tomorrow with the pix. And good to "meet" a neighbour!

Mike
Click to expand...
Doug is there a PM I can send somehow so I don't clog up the airwaves with other pix?
 
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