Aluminium?

Adler

Adler

New member
Ok, it's been a while since I posted something but I think the following will make that up...

Last year, I was visiting a small militaria show and at a certain moment I was asking myself “what am I doing here?”… There was absolutely nothing of any interest to find. Just a few minutes later it seemed that someone had pulled his last banana box out of his trunk and right in front of me he put this Bavarian beauty on his table.

Within a second I had the Bavarian in my hands and started checking things out. I have only seen one like this before since 1973 and here it was… a lightweight aluminium officer's pickelhaube. I was lucky that I remembered that the other one had the same enlisted men’s type of liner and all the rest was also the way I expected it to be.

Soon the seller and I could agree on the price and since he had no idea at all about the rarity of this beauty, it was kinda bargain for me… It gave this great feeling of finding a holy grail at discount price…

This Officers M86-14 pickelhaube with silver fittings and flat chinscales was only worn by Kgl. Bayer. Infanterie-Leib-Regt. or Kgl. Bayer. Pionier-Bataillons 1 to 4. Other helmets with silver fittings were worn by Chevaulegers regts. 2 – 4 – 6 – 8 but they had rounded chinscales as they were Cavalry…

Please enjoy the pictures and if someone might have more info about this type of helmet, please feel free to let us know…

Adler













 
OMG Adler you are killing me, that is one very cool helmet, and rare, rare rare, I have never seen one only heard of it.

Congrats

James
 
But when you do post you post dam'n right
never seem one of those
i do even have to think if i ever seen one in the books that i have

Very nice one karel

Jonas
 
Outstanding!! I saw one of these at a show in Indianapolis in the 1970's and passed on it because I was sure it was a fake. Only years later did I discover that they actually did exist. By then it was too late to start kicking myself.
Wonderful find. Congratulations.
John :bravo:

May I ask what the approximate gauge of the aluminum shell is? If I recall correctly on the one I saw the shell was about as thick as an average tin can.
 
Very beautiful helmet. :thumb up: Congratulations on a great purchase. My friend found an aluminum pikelhaube on the battlefields, unfortunately its condition is poor

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Thank you for your comments gentlemen!

Was this type of haube intended for everyday wear or for ceremonial duties? Great find BTW. :D /
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I really don't know if this helmet was intended for something special or everyday use... it seems there's almost no information to find. Imo it was a lightweght helmet that was only produced by only one maker, but that's only a thought, not a proven fact... The other exact the same helmet I have seen was also Bavarian.

May I ask what the approximate gauge of the aluminum shell is? If I recall correctly on the one I saw the shell was about as thick as an average tin can.
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It's indeed very thin, that's probably why it has those little damages...

Just when I think I have seen everything, Karel proves me wrong.

I have never even heard of these. How cool is that helmet??
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Tony, now I'm happy because I could finally amaze you :-"

Very beautiful helmet. :thumb up: Congratulations on a great purchase. My friend found an aluminum pikelhaube on the battlefields, unfortunately its condition is poor
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Sergei, your friend's helmet seems to be an issued ersatz helmet and that's different than this officer's helmet. Nevertheless it's also a super rare thing to even encounter one of these...

Adler
 
Karel,

I am with Tony, I have never even heard of one. This is incredible. Are you sure it is aluminum? Have you taken a magnet to it? I thought these were very thinly rolled steel. The openings on the front of the helmet are amazing as it is the wappen. Old-style makes you think prewar but with the bent back prongs that makes you think ersatz. The liner make me wonder if it is some sort of OYV upgrade but that is really upgraded . Thank you for this.
 
Thanks for your comments guys!

Joe, it's definitely aluminium without a doubt. This helmet is absolutely produced this way and not an upgraded enlisted men's model, just look at the fine rim of the front visor...

The use of the prongs would also make me think pre war, as is the helmet plate and the use of aluminium makes me think ersatz but more in the meaning of use of a new "exciting" material ...

My guess would be that this might be a diensthelm because of the use of an elisted men's type of liner. I do hope someone can find more information about this helmet, meanwhile I'll try to find pictures of the other helmet I once have seen...

Adler
 
Superb helmet. i've heard they existed, but this is the first one i see.

Karel, you always know how to find the best helmets :thumb up:

Greetings

Pickelhaube
 
I am with Tony on this one......I have never heard of or seen one of these in all my years of collecting...awesome helme!
 
:-?
This must be one of the rarest of the whole pickelhaube spectrum ,there is hope for the Yeti afterall :alien:

Congrads Karel.
 
This is just made me think a bit about ersatz metal. Eisenblach..... What exactly is it? I was under the impression that it was a very thinly stamped steel. But I think this is wrong. I do not believe it is tin perhaps it is all aluminum??? There are all sorts of aluminum fittings in catalogs. If it is nonmagnetic…
 
Joe, I think we had already described these Eisenblech and Stahlblech helmets before. At the end they are both the same type of helmets and the difference is only how they called them.
If I recall correctly, Tony has explained all of this somewhere...
Eisen = iron and Stahl = steel but the difference is the composition of it. I can't explain exactly about these compositions, but the aluminium helmet I showed here has nothing to do with the steel ersatz helmets imo...

Adler
 
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