Maple Creek
Member
I purchased this recently from a person in Dallas,TX who is the grandson of a US WWII vet who served in the occupation forces post-war. The exact history of the piece has been lost, but we presume it was something the vet picked up while serving in Europe. It's the second Hessian piece (IR 115 EM) I have picked up with this kind of provenance (WWII vet serving occupation duty).
For me it's always exciting to find something like this that hasn't been in a collection before. The piece was complete with all components including nuts and washers (something I like to see) but was heavily tarnished and caked with silver polish from previous attempts to clean it. I considered leaving it as-is, but it was in serious need of careful cleaning to remove the old silver polish and these pieces look so pretty when clean and shiny. I carefully cleaned and polished the helmet, but no other repair or adjustments were required.
I like the gilt monogram "D" in the liner. It's the first pickelhaube I've had with that feature.
For me it's always exciting to find something like this that hasn't been in a collection before. The piece was complete with all components including nuts and washers (something I like to see) but was heavily tarnished and caked with silver polish from previous attempts to clean it. I considered leaving it as-is, but it was in serious need of careful cleaning to remove the old silver polish and these pieces look so pretty when clean and shiny. I carefully cleaned and polished the helmet, but no other repair or adjustments were required.
I like the gilt monogram "D" in the liner. It's the first pickelhaube I've had with that feature.
