Early Leib-Gendarmerie Helm?

Nacuaa

Active member
Another early Leib-Gendarmerie helmet?


Compare to:


Either these are original (and we just don't know much about them) or someone went to tremendous expense to fake them. But if so, you got to wonder why and how.
 
This is a regular Kurassier helmet body. The front visor is the Kurassier style.

A Leibgendarmerie front visor has a peak or point to the center of it.

I had an old reproduction of this type of helmet that I found a year ago in September. It did not have the special Leibgendarmerie Eagle on the top of the helmet, but instead it had an incorrect style of spike on it, instead of having the proper tulip bulb style spike on the top.

I'll see if I can find some pics of it to attach here.

Best Regards,

Alan
 
This is indeed enigmatic, since in principle this special eagle only appeared in 1889 with the new helmet (pointed visor). Before 1889, Leib Gendarmen wore the regular enlisted line Kurassier helmet, with the Garde emblem. Therefore the configuration seen here would not have existed. Most puzzling is the period drawing showing a pre-1888 Leib Gendarme wearing a Kurassier helmet.... with the special eagle! Was it already adopted before it became official? Not easy to solve...
 
Yes, someone went to a lot of expense making the helmet I had and sold as a repro. I also had a fake enlisted Saxon Garde Reiter helmet that came from the same source, and I sold that as well as a repro. Neither helmet were of the cheap modern made in India type that we see on today's market place (eBay).

I'm looking for the photos I took of it. It's on one of several photo memory cards, and trying to figure out which one it's on.
 
These appear to be actual Model 1867 helmets. The eagles look more or less comparable to each other in quality. They could be assembled from parts then.
 
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