Fiber Board Ersatz Helmet

Larmo

Member
Greetings Gents

On a recent trip to Pennsylvania I purchased an unusual (to me) Prussian em helmet which is entirely made of formed fiber board or heavy paper. The visor and neck guard are secured by rivets and it has a typical em style tan leather liner sewn to the helmet body. All of the fittings are brass, em pattern save for a pair of Prussian officer rosettes and a flat scale chin strap. The patina of the components matches quite well and it looks as if it has been together for a long, long time. There is a penciled size 56 1/2 in the neck guard and a penciled (but unreadable) name as well. No other markings to be seen.

I apologize for my lack of photos (I'll be working on that soon) but would appreciate any thoughts or comments from the forum.

With Thanks

Larry
 
Larry,

Welcome to the forum! It is good to have you here! I'm sure everyone would love to see pictures of his helmet. Papier-mâché helmets are fairly well-known but not common.
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fiberboard is known in private purchase but I do not know of any fiber contract. Your helmet sounds somewhat mixed with the officer rosette. Let's see those pictures! Good to have you on board.
 
A good friend of mine had an Ersatz formed fiber board helmet. Unfortunately, it was cracked, or I would have grabbed it when he sold it. It was the first one I had ever seen.
 
Larry send me your pics if you like and I will post them for you. I handled one papier mache helmet (M15) style years ago. That is the only one that I have ever seen. I can't imagine gouing into the trenches with a paper hat on your head! brian
 
Paper Mache Helmets.A friend told me that these were a hard to find thing .would be nice to see pics.
Brian I think felt even leather would not impress me much more protected.
Zippey
 
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