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Completely understand James, kokarden like chinstraps, have always been an issue as they are often missing!

An amazing presentation, beautiful! Congratulations! :) (y)

Peter: Do some investigation as I did on Youtube as to how actual felt hat makers produce their goods. Hot steam will fry most anything if left too long including human flesh. Having owned one of these repros, they are very stiff and the felt has been treated with a stiffening product known to...

Damn...so yet again, I have to buy my next Bavarian kokarde from James!! He is cornering the kokarden market!! :D

Thanks James but thanks to Steve McFarland, I have the correct complete spike and base (twist off). He sold it to me years ago. :) By the way, the antique hat stretcher shown is the smallest size that I have ever seen for sale. I grabbed it on Ebay out of Calif.

My latest acquisition bought at auction last week. Some of you may have seen this...sold by a small CN auction house a couple of hours drive from me. IG items seldom come up for sale/bid in my area so despite condition, I bid. The neusilber fittings show a lot of wear. Fortunately the piece is...

Charles R. many thanks for your recent donation to the forum!

There are Shako versions of these as well both Saxon and Prussian, all have the same leather edge trim.

Yes the infamous R 22 , it’s been awhile since I’ve seen one of these. Manufactured in the UK during the 1970’s!

Very nice, pioneer photos are rare in my experience! (y)

No problem guys....it actually put a smile on my face! :D

Just to clarify....my. name is Brian not Bill. Bill was my father.....William E. Loree. :). Digger: I will look into your acid free method. (y)

You did very well, this is an excellent example of the M15, great condition! My first was also an M15 but the liner had red rot and the condition was not half as good as yours. I had no idea about "red rot" so I bought it. Congratulations!

Excellent post! Thank you for sharing this with us. (y) Thanks Pete for the translation.

My second helmet ET 66: Condition wise the camo paint on this helmet is in better shape than my ET 64 and of course we have the original leather chin strap. This piece was bought from a local militaria dealer who actually had a store front where you could go and check out his wares. He was ex...

Yes Chuck I did. When I bought this in the 80's everyone had clued into the fact that Neatsfoot Oil was destructive and Pecards was recommended by the so called experts. Hopefully, I haven't destroyed the leather. I have not put anything on leather now though for at least 20 years.

Additional photos as requested: I did not take these initially because by doing so we put stress on the silk Size 59 cm and 2 brass hex nuts with washers. If the hex nuts are in doubt....we do find these on M15's and officers but they are not that common.

I have had these two examples for decades. They were bought back in the 80's when there was not a great demand from collectors. I have posted these before, probably 15 years or so. My first example ET 64: This helmet was brought back by a CEF Pioneer who picked it up during the Canal du Nord...

I have always used kiwi shoe polish but that is just what is mostly sold here in Canada. Length of spike has nothing to do with rank. All officer helmets were private purchase items (he paid for it) so your owner wanted to "strut his stuff"! :) It was a fashion statement.

The shape and length of that spike is unusual. This fashion fad of tall spikes got so bad that the German Army had to create spike height regulations to calm things down.