Baden OR Kockarden needed
- Thread starter wayne8661
- Start date
not easy to find right now.
James
James
ww1czechlegion
Well-known member
I'm looking for 2-or-3 brass trimmed leather chinstraps myself, and 1-or-2 gray wartime metal trimmed chinstraps, which helmets in my collection have been missing for years.
The fact of the matter is that the chinstraps are tough as "hen's teeth" to find on the loose. And the kokardes are getting to be very difficult to find as well, aside from the National colors examples which still pop up for sale on eBay every couple months or so.
My luck the past several years when I do find helmets is that 90% of the time I find them, they are invariably missing chinstraps and kokardes.
And as James has said: "not easy to find right now" is so very true. The last year or 2 in time there are very few kokardes that show up for sale on eBay. In past years this did not used to be the case, as one could expect to find National & Prussian colors kokardes available to bid on, several times a year. And Baden and sometimes Bavarian Kokardes would pop up for sale once or twice a year. Not any more. That's the current situation, and the fact of the matter.
I do sincerely feel sorry for you that you are searching like a good many others of us out there, and probably don't realize the long list you've put yourself on of those of us collectors who are looking for kokardes and chinstraps. I personally do not know anyone who has a spare chinstrap that they have sitting in a "parts box" unused, let alone anyone who might have one sitting around unused who would be willing to sell a chinstrap at any price, if they do have a spare unused chinstrap. So I am sorry to tell you this news. I like to say that we're a very friendly and helpful group of collectors here. But unfortunately those parts you are seeking are very difficult to find, and most collectors don't have these parts sitting around unused, to sell to anyone here or elsewhere. It's not that people are not willing to help you, it's just that these particular spare parts aren't out there. It may take a lot of time and patience to find them, and those here are always willing to alert you if they see them available somewhere and let you know about them.
The last good original wartime gray trimmed chinstrap that I saw on the loose on fleabay was 5 or 6 years ago, and it was in very nice condition, and it sold for close to $400 or maybe a bit over that, for a wartime gray metal trimmed leather chinstrap. There's always the option of buying a fake artificially aged one from a Ukrainian fakes/repro seller on eBay every other week that he makes them regularly available, one offered at a time. They always sell for $39 plus shipping. Sometimes he lists them for $99, and they sell always.
I've personally bought many junk helmets in order to simply just acquire the kokarde(s) on them, and/or a chinstrap, and junk out the rest of the helmet just to acquire those parts. That's what you'll probably end up having to do as well. So welcome to the patient group of collectors we have here, struggling to find missing parts on helmets and scouring eBay for junk helmets with parts on them that we all need.
I was fortunate several years ago to buy about 1/3 of a small horde of 150+ original kokardes of all types that were discovered in Pennsylvania before covid hit, when one could still find things on auction for a reasonable price, and was able to acquire about 53 of that group. But, the ones I didn't keep for spares for myself all sold out quite quickly. And the few spares of Bavarian, Wurttemburg, and Baden I have I would not sell for any price today, no apologies with my saying this, because they can't be found easily any longer. The situation has changed very much in 4 quick years time, and especially what happened with covid and so many sitting at home working and finding things on the internet because of their time at home while working. Nothing slides under the radar that is available online any longer, because of what happened with covid.
Best Wishes to You,
Alan
Last edited:
coert65
Well-known member
Alan and James are both correct, very hard to find.
Original chinstraps do show up sometimes on French E-bay, but you really have to look carefully, and be fast as the auction goes.
I was bidding on an M15, and later an M95 one, but lost out to last second bidders unfortunately.
Kokarden also show up there, but for those the same counts, you have to be fast.
Regards, Coert.
Original chinstraps do show up sometimes on French E-bay, but you really have to look carefully, and be fast as the auction goes.
I was bidding on an M15, and later an M95 one, but lost out to last second bidders unfortunately.
Kokarden also show up there, but for those the same counts, you have to be fast.
Regards, Coert.
There was a time in the early days of EBay where sellers could use what they called Dutch auctions. In this case there might be 30 kokarden up for sale. If you won the bid you could choose how many you wanted and paid your bid price for each. In my case these were original NOS Prussian M91’s, never issued. Unfortunately, I could only afford 6 at the time. In my 40 year collector experience, original chinstraps have always been very hard to find, so today’s rarity is nothing new.