Curious 'Saxon' Wappen star

[seagull]

Just bought a fairly trashed helmet for spares and was surprised to find it had this star, which I think might be genuine Saxon, with two revolting modern screw posts on the reverse and an unconvincing fake Saxon 'gold' painted coat of arms on the front. There are two newly drilled holes for the fake badge but four original holes, two large and two very small (one at the centre filled with solder), at a different angle which matches the solder marks of the original studs or loops. The two new holes align with the bottom points of the star having been removed a long time ago, so I am thinking this may be a very old Saxon star repurposed for some new role and then hacked about again much later. Also, every one of the longest points has been drilled with a very small hole - mounted on a board maybe?
Then again, I have compared this star with dozens of Saxon stars and none of them have the accentuated small point between each grouping of longer points, so my theory is probably wrong. Hoping this may ring some bells with someone else.
Thanks, Steve

 

[seagull]

Forgot to mention, measuring across the long points this star is 2cm bigger than the stars on M95 Saxon helms.

 

[Sandmann]

According the clothing regulations the stars for enlisted men were 10,5 cm, officers 12 cm and Generals 13,5 cm.

 

[seagull]

Thanks Sandmann, at 12.5cm I think in a past life it may once have been officer or private purchase? Either way, one for the parts box I think.

 

[Sandmann]

According to my investigations of the clothing regulations it was always 10.5 cm / 12 cm and 13.5 cm. But 12.5 is possible. Please consider the manufacturing tolerances and the conversions from Saxon inches that applied in Saxony before 1871 to centimeters that were to be used after 1871. After all, they weren’t technical parts that required a high level of dimensional accuracy.

 

[Sandmann]

Thanks Sandmann, at 12.5cm I think in a past life it may once have been officer or private purchase? Either way, one for the parts box I think.

As I mentioned today in my thread about the Saxon clothing regulations, I finally got a Saxon clothing regulation for enlisted men from 1904. According this the star increased for enlisted men up to 12,0 cm with the introduction of the M95 helmet and „Jäger zu Pferd“ and „Stabsordonnanzen„ wore a star with a height of 12,7 cm. So I think your star is one of the last mentioned.

 

[seagull]

Thank you very much Sandy, I appreciate your remembering this star and am delighted it is possibly a Stabs. version.
I just discovered something else about it today - I cleaned both the star and Saxon shield using Wojek's suggested mixture of lime juice and bicarbonate of soda and both were transformed. The "gold paint" on what I thought was a fake Saxon shield turned out to be a thick coat of nicotine. It both silver plated and genuine!
Thanks to both you and Wojtek.