Enlisted Artillery Helmet

D

DASH

New member
Hello - I just bought a leather enlisted artillery helmet at a yard sale but am unable to post a picture now. Comments on it based on the following description would be appreciated.

Unmarked except for a black ink stamp BAXII or BAVII and 1916 in a square box near the spike reinforcement plate. Standard BRASS Prussian line eagle and non removable BRASS kugel and base/brads. All other hardware - rear spine with vent, visor trim and brads, M91 posts, wappen grommets and chinstrap fittings, are grey iron. All appear to be original to the piece or at least show no signs of current tampering. Thanks, Dan
 
Sounds cool! If you have a picture e-mail it to me and I will post it. Isn't it fun having new ones!

Isn't it funny how a bear loves honey! --AA Milne.
 
I'm not so sure if it looks cool, I would be happy if it looked original / normal. On a slightly different topic, I just got around to cleaning an Otto Nachtigall 1915 Kurassier enlisted helmet which I had tucked away for many years. It's all there except the chinstrap, but someone painted it silver a long time ago, probably to keep it from rusting. There was a very fine coating of rust on it, which cleaned off better than I expected, leaving what seems to be bare steel (no sign of any plating). How do you care for this type of helmet to keep it from rusting? I will get some photos out as soon as I get a camera. Dan
 
Thank you for directing me to your site and the excellent article on preservation - full of great tips and definately worth reading more than once. Now that I am semi-retired I will have time to spend on my collection without rushing to complete a project. I can be very patient - I bought both the mentioned Kurassier and a JzP, both 1915 EM by Otto Nachtigall, and both in the aluminum "painted" condition in 1962 for $12. The good old days. By the way, I tested the visor trim and rear spine on the artillery helmet with a magnet when I bought it to determine that they were not brass, as they were painted black. They don"t look bad in black but I am sure that originally they were grey. Strange mix of parts. Thanks again Dan
 
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