1916 Pattern Stalhelm

Steve Nick

Well-known member
I bought this years ago from a good friend who wanted a representative German helmet in his WW I Canadian medals collection. Sadly, he was disposing of his collection as he had a terminal illness. I knew the helmet had issues but he was trying to spare his wife having to sell off his stuff so I asked the price and paid it, no questions asked. It’s an early issue helmet (based on the heavy gauge leather liner band) that escaped being camoflauged so I’m guessing it was captured prior to the summer of 1918?

Maker Stamp is BF (B is obscured but as only one maker used an F in their stamp it is BF). Stands for F. C. Bellinger of Fulda. Size 62 (small).
F. C. Bellinger made only two helmet sizes, 62 and 64.

I assume that the number 8859 (ghosted number 1 ?) stamped in the dome is the Heat Lot number.

Size 62 is also stenciled inside the skirt. Was this done at the depot, the factory or at the unit level?

Issues

Has a repro chin-strap. Not a problem in my mind given the regularity with which the chinstraps would fall off using the M91 post method.

I believe the liner has been removed (probably post-war) and two missing liner pads replaced and new liner split pins used to re-install the liner. Likely that the pins were broken during the replacement effort.
 

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That is a very nice M1916.
The liner has probably been out several times.
I believe that the liners were removed in the field, rinsed, and then re-installed.
We do the same thing on military helmets now. They get pretty nasty after a few weeks, or months.

John :bravo: :bravo: :bravo:
 
Hi Steve,
Very nice helmet, lots of colour left.
I don't think all the helmets (couple of million) in the German army were camouflaged after Ludendorf's order on 7.7.1918, so I don't think it has to be a captured helmet.
My M18 Stahlhelm has an "Abnahme-Kommando" stamp (acceptance stamp), stylised "AK" over "66" (the helmet size), maybe early on the stamp looked different (i.e. only the size), or it was stamped in the field as looking for the size of a muddy helmet in a trench can be challenging (at the time when the helmets were part of the trench inventory rather than issued to the soldier).
I agree with your assessment of the liner, probably a collector as the quality of the rework isn't good enough for a military workshop. I would look for replacement split pens because the current ones are so visibly incorrect, but otherwise leave as is.
Regards, Lars
 
Lars:

I appreciate your thoughts. I agree that the liner pads are pretty amateurish and not likely done at a depot. I'll keep my eyes open for original liner split pins. The current ones do sort of telegraph "replaced liner".
 
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