F A R 66 / F A R 8

KAGGR#1

KAGGR#1

Well-known member


At my age and being retired ; " Latest Finds "
are few and far in between .
So my latest helmet find was Dec 2015
The story is almost as good as the helmet . I normally do not collect
what I call helmets of the "line regiments "
However of all things this helmet showed up at a Civil War Show in Franklin , Tenn.
I attend it each year for my Confederate Veteran collection
A dealer friend of mine bought it at the show . I saw it under his table
and asked to look it over . Everything looked O K
but I did not buy it right there . He took the helmet home and I am glad that he did.
This was / is a U S Army veteran bring back helmet . The veteran who brought it back
wrote his name and unit on the inside of the front visor in pencil .
Within about 3 days after Jack took it home he found information on the soldier
who brought it back . I will post more photos and finish the story
Steve
 


Here is the way the helmet is marked
F.A.R. 66 1915
When I asked Jack to read the markings off to me again
I checked and found F A R 66 was a Baden artillery regiment
so I began to think maybe this helmet is not so correct after all .
Jack said that it looked correct to him .
What is the price ? $ 750 U S Dollars
I said sent it to and if it looks correct to me I will buy it .
next
Steve
 
Seems a great helmet with a very interesting history :D

I am looking forward to the rest of the story!

Regards,

Edwin
 


So I get the helmet in and looking it over I find a tag inside to a soldier
from F A R 8 . It seems the helmet started out the property of F A R 66
without ever having a Baden helmet front plate ever mounted on it .
Then ends up with the Prussian F A R 8
next
Steve
 
Stay tuned Edwin !
Thanks




Name of the U S Army veteran written inside the front visor
A. Bailes 328 artillery

Steve
 


So with help of my artillery collector friend Rob Hickson
he is so nice to sell me the two shoulder straps
F A R 8 and F A R 66 to go with my helmet
Steve
 
So here is what Jack found on Bailes
his unit ; serial number and even where he
lived after the war .






the last 2 next
Steve
 




So Jack was even able to locate this 328th group photo
with Bailes , the veteran who brought the helmet back home .

In my 46 years of collecting Imperial German
I had never found a helmet with these many connections .
If other collectors out have such helmets
I sure would like to see and hear about them .

Steve
 
Wow this is sutch great information and al by the fact of a written name in a helmet

I guess we all want them like your helmet
Not bothered if it is a german name or another,when your lucky you can learn a lot

Jonas
 
Oh , It’s only a “line regiment" Steve, why don’t you sell that helmet to me… :evil4:


No Seriously, very nice helmet and the history is always a nice bonus.
 
Col. J. :
Not sure that I understand your question .
What is or what do you mean by sky ?
The paper tag reads F A R 8 / 40
I have always thought that the regiment number
always followed F A R and thinking that maybe
the 40 was / is a Waffen number
If it were reverse then it would have to be 8 battery
40 regiment ? Possible I guess what opposite
of what I have always seen
But now you have me thinking
seems I ran all of this by Tony S. soon after I got the
helmet to confirm what I thought .
I will go thru my saved emails from Tony to see if
I still have it .
In the meantime , Tony if you read this ; please reply
same for any and all who furnish input
Thanks
Steve
 
I found Tony's email about the helmet
shortly after I bought it .
Here is what he had to say ;

Well the FAR8 would mean just that, the #40 is typically the weapon number registered to the soldier. Very common for helmets to get moved from unit to unit after repairs, as for if it started in FAR66 and then wen to FAR8, or the other way around, who knows? Great helmet with rock-solid provenience. T

That's good enough for me and Bobby McGee

Steve
 
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