Carnival spike helmet....

[stuka f]

Hello all,

found this little fellow from a house clearing.
Apparently used to party during a carnival at some point, due to the confetti found inside.
And coming from a region where carnival is "hot", ....yes; Aalst!

But I 'got a lot of questions. And hope you could help me out.
The marks for one; what do you read in the neck flap?
Is it KRAG? The last mark is quiet hard to me...
And about the name written between the front plate holes...
Is it "Heks"?

And what about the kokarden (color!)? They are iron and sitting for ages on that helmet.
The chinstrap slots are sitting very tight on the "91" nipples, that might have saved them(both the slots and the kokarden) from loss....

The front plate is lost.
And what about ( the rest of) the leather chinstrap? Original or not?
And could it be that all metal wear was painted, just as the spine and the visor trim are. I seem to see rest of that paint, on the spike and the 91 side posts....

 

[USN]

The stamp you have there is K.B.A.G 1918 which is the depot mark of the prussian garde units I would assume that those are the original cockades for the helmet and they just had the insides painted red

 

[USN]

Here is the same stamp on my prussian garde helmet with is original field cover

 

[stuka f]

Thanks a lot!
I was hopping for kriegs bekleidungsamt des (or der!?) gardekorps!
Glad you confirm.
Not of a great importance but could the date be 19"15" instead of 18?

 

[coert65]

It looks more to be KBAG 1915 to me indeed.
If it would have been 1918, all the fittings would have been gray, these are all obviously brass colored, even the grommets for the wappen.
If you look closely at the pictures they all are that way. Also, the spacing of the grommets seen at the right space apart for a Garde wappen.

 

[coert65]

Looking more closely at your pictures, you can even see the ghost of the Garde wappen still on the helmet.
Kokarden seem original too, chinstrap, or the remains of it too.

Nice helmet to bring back to original! :thumb up:

 

[stuka f]

Yes Coert, indeed.
It makes me think everything else was painted too. Also rests of paint on them.

 

[coert65]

I think so too. I never saw a black painted rear spine, and front visortrim before, except on a mourning helmet, but this was only once.
You could put a small magnet on them, like a fridgemagnet to be sure, but I am almost sure all fittings are brass, so non magnetic.
All my M15's are magnetic, some with a kind of chemical greying, and some painted grey.

Have a nice weekend, Coert. :thumb up:

 

[stuka f]

Got a wappen, but it doesn't match...
The holes also seem strangely put...they are not in the center, comparing to the visor.
A wappen on that helmet would be out of balance.
Quiet hard to explain....

 

[stuka f]

I think so too. I never saw a black painted rear spine, and front visortrim before, except on a mourning helmet, but this was only once.
You could put a small magnet on them, like a fridgemagnet to be sure, but I am almost sure all fittings are brass, so non magnetic.
All my M15's are magnetic, some with a kind of chemical greying, and some painted grey.

Have a nice weekend, Coert. :thumb up:

Yes all hardware is brass.
Except the kokarden they are magnetic.

 

[USN]

Yeah the makes sense I guess I was more focused on the lettering and spaced the date. Either way a fantastic helmet and im sure it could be brought back to its proper shape with ease and a little patience.