Another Garde Tschapka

b.loree

b.loree

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Another Garde Ulan tschapka sent for a visor re stitch and perhaps some finish work. This one like the last, belongs to Alan, the intrepid "Haube Hunter". I may fix a lot of them but he sure knows how to search/discover them. :thumb up: The before photos:
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Obviously, this one comes with fangschnur which is new for me. I will do a separate post on these with some close up pics.
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Some damage to the helmet top.
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An officer kokarde on an OR's piece? Many things get lost/ changed/added on over 100+ years.
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Typically, the shell draws in as many leather helmets do.
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The liner shows age and use but is complete. Helmet size is marked 57 1/2 in grease pencil to the interior....a private purchase officer characteristic.
:?
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Rotten stitching.
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The tschapka visor and overall construction is totally unique! There is nothing like them in the realm of Imperial German Headdress. :thumb up: More photos to come.
 
Thanks Brian & James, I appreciate your kind words!

It will be fun to see the work progress on this one.

I was thrilled to have the fangschnur on the helmet when I found it back in September. I've never had an original set before.

Best Regards,

Alan
 
It has the officer's chinscales and cockade, and the hook is characteristic of an officer's tschapka. Enlisted wappen, liner and fangschnurr. Nice looking! The pocket for the feld-abzeichen and plume looks like it may be a challenge. I'm also looking forward to what wonders the Haube-Doctor can work!
 
Excellent point bob....the officer neusilber hook for the fangschnur. This confirms to me along with the other things mentioned....a private purchase helmet even though it does have OR’s visor trim and parade cords.
 
Nice find, I‘m looking forward to see it repaired. A fine addition to your collection :bravo:
 
There is a post in the restoration section showing the re stitch of another tschapka visor. However, I will be posting numerous pics and description of how it is done . The last photo in this post does show the unique visor stitch line. The re stitch does take two people though, two pairs of hands, luckily my wife has no problem helping me out. :)
 
The work continues:
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The visor actually has three layers to it, a thin outer layer of very fine leather, a middle stiffer/thicker layer and finally, the typical green cloth/leather underside. In manufacture, the visor is tack stitched vertically to the shell then folded down into position. This creates the smooth no stitch line visor as the stitches/thread are hidden in the fold. The first two layers described are the ones which are stitched to the shell.
No grommets in these wappen holes as this was a private purchase officer style piece.
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The visor has been cut off and you can see the fold line with the pairs of "tacked" stitches. We have a break in the fold and we are going to fix that, using a strip of linen and some glue. The small missing piece of leather is still stuck to the shell so that is going to be put back into position as well. Obviously, my type A/perfectionist personality has taken over once again. :)
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The silver trim has to be removed, imagine what that dirt would reveal if we had a laboratory. :?
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The Tschapka liner is also unique as we can see here how the front of the liner is tack stitched as far as the trim split brads then fine stitching around the rim of the shell.
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The neusilber wappen still has a lot of frosting left on it.
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Officer style screw posts on the reverse and something new in my experience ,,,,no small leather wedges to hold the Garde star on, the soldered loops are merely bent over the slots. Sometimes, they soldered these loops to the edge of the slots. To be continued...
 
Thank you for your guidance-post, you know I like them :thumb up:
Also it doesn't seem to be here, but may I ask what would you do if 1 or more holes are torned?
 
I have encountered this a few times...where the stitch line is rotted out or the small bits of leather between holes are torn. The only way that I know of to sort of fix this is to glue a backing strip of thin leather or linen cloth behind the area. You can then stitch through the broken area. The thread pulls through on the front side but does have something to grip to when the needle goes through the shell stitch hole.
 
Some photos of the finished product:
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Back on at last!! Restitching the tschapka visor in my experience, is the most difficult of all the Imperial headdress.
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The visor trim at least went back on easily! It is still in good shape after all these years.
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I will be detailing the restitch process in another 'Restoration Post".
 
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