Hope I didn’t make a mistake!

H

Hallibag

Member
First, thanks for adding me to the group! Now, I stumbled across the helmet in the attached pics near the end of an auction. I didn’t have much time for research but I decided to take a punt, and won. I’m almost afraid to ask, is this helmet good, or did I buy a dud?

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These photos are the only ones I have, but I’ll take more once the helmet arrives.

Thanks!
 
911car said:
Excellent purchase! It has the correct specific Kurassier eagle and, importantly, the leather liner. Such a helmet in this condition is easily restored (rust removal and metal polishing). A little trickier will be to fix the chinscales, but it is doable, preferably by a specialist who knows what he is doing.
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Whew! That’s wonderful to hear. Thanks so much. How much would restoration cost, do you think?
 
Cleaning/polishing the helmet is a DIY job. For the broken chinscale, I don't know. Brian, on this forum, is the expert and can probably tell you.
 
Nice pre war OR's Prussian kurassier helmet. There may be Regimental markings or a size (cm's) stamped on the underside of the tail of the helmet. The maker name is also often stamped into the crown of the shell. As to the chin scales, I would have to see close up photos of each to see what has to be done. The rust can be removed by using 000 steel wool and some sort of liquid rust remover. Regards, Brian Loree [email protected]
 
Most certainly, but with a cloth cover called an uberzug, so as to prevent the “shine” from these helmets revealing ones location. This model was changed in 1915 (M15) with the brass fittings replaced by grey steel. The spike top was also now removable to reduce the wearers profile. Last, the M15’s used leather chin straps instead of brass scales.
 
You did very well. With some effort and not a lot of money you'll have a very presentable helmet. I really like those M91 chin scales.
 
Thanks again to everyone for their thoughts. This helmet arrived today, and I’m generally very happy. The surface rust isn’t as bad as I expected, and the helmet is complete aside from the kokarden, drawstring from the liner, and the end of the leather chinstrap. The biggest disappointment for me is the lack of manufacturer or unit markings, as I can find only the number 565, stamped on the edge of the neck guard. Serial number? Anyway, here are a few photos…

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I like it a lot! Do you have pictures from the liner, and the inner shell? Maybe we can find out more about it here.
The 56,5 is a size stamp. The M91 posts are the correct ones for the helmet, as it has the rounded prongs on it, to fix the chinstrap to them.
These are different than those fitted to the pickelhauben, they are more pointy on those. I mean the ones you see on the outside, but I guess you know what I mean. You did good in buying this helmet! Congratulations!

Regards, Coert.
 
coert65 said:
I like it a lot! Do you have pictures from the liner, and the inner shell? Maybe we can find out more about it here.
The 56,5 is a size stamp. The M91 posts are the correct ones for the helmet, as it has the rounded prongs on it, to fix the chinstrap to them.
These are different than those fitted to the pickelhauben, they are more pointy on those. I mean the ones you see on the outside, but I guess you know what I mean. You did good in buying this helmet! Congratulations!

Regards, Coert.
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Thanks, Coert. I wouldn’t have guessed the number was the helmet size, so thank you for this information. I had a brief look under the liner but didn’t take pictures as the leather is quite dry and brittle and I wanted to keep handling to a minimum to reduce the risk of damage. No markings were seen. Still, I will try to carefully take photos when I get the chance.

Cheers,

David
 
Looking at your inside photos of the helmet, every thing I see is original and as it should be. Congratulations on your purchase!
 
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