Bonjour Jean-Pierre,
I collect helmets of the Franco-Preußen war and am particularly fond of Tschakos, so an original Braunschweigisches Garde Tschako would be a fantasy item for me. However, I will not be bidding on this one. Tempting, but some problems.
It appears to have been a M1844, as you can see the the slits on each inside on the liner on the inside where the chinstrap once came out. So... was it 'updated' to a M1863 and had the chinstrap placed on the outside?
If so, why are the buttons brass when they should be leather? So this could have been done by a theatre or costume company. This could explain why there are marks in the leather from old Kokarden, when this pattern of Tschako never wore Kokarden on the chinstraps.
The seller states that "Eine Kokarde wurde bei diesem Modell nicht getragen" (this pattern was never worn with a Kokarde), but all of my references say that a metal Braunschweig was worn above the Wappen on the M1844 and M1863 (like a Feldzeichen). So if this is an original, it would be impossible to find the missing Kokarde, so it would never be complete.
This is the same Tschako that sat on the web site of Kunst-und-Militaria.de for several years. I have photos of it, compared it to the one on de-bay, it is the same Tschako. If this was a 'textbook' Braunschweigisches Garde Tschako with no questions, it would have not been on Sergio's web sales for more than a day, and it would perhaps be here in Canada, as I would have bought it! But, it is, as you said, "La mariée est trop belle" (too good to be true) and "Quand il y a doute, il n'y a plus de doute!" (When there is doubt, there is no more doubt!). So I will not bid either.
Sadly, the Tschako Braunschweig Mannschaft Infanterie, Modell 1860 available now on Kunst-und-Militaria.de is missing the liner. So I passed on that one as well.
Tony
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