How to properly conserve pickelhaubes?

[Milguy18]

I recently acquired my first pickelhaube and I’m nervous on how to display it. I know to keep it away from sunlight so I have curtains covering the windows. It’s currently sitting on a foam head with a piece of cloth between the foam and the helmet. I’m going to get a humidity detector as well. If the humidity is within safe levels will I be fine?

 

[ussguppy]

Hi, there is a restoration section of the forum for these type of topics that should answer most of your questions. Pictures always help.

In short, I would keep it away from any leather treatments and just keep it in a controlled environment. Its practically really simple.

The Styrofoam head is oil based and will react poorly with the helmet, so I personally use a wine glass to keep the weight off the visors which will help preserve the stitching.

Gabe

 

[gino1]

Everyone has their own way of making them shine.
Here I hold my pickelhaube underneath with a beer glass (Duvel glass)Belgian beer

 

[Khukri]

I use beer glasses-Trappist. Never foam heads. And an ugly stand can be camouflaged.
Natural-unbleached thick cotton layers between the [sharp] edge of the glass and the liner.

I recently acquired my first pickelhaube and I’m nervous on how to display it. I know to keep it away from sunlight so I have curtains covering the windows. It’s currently sitting on a foam head with a piece of cloth between the foam and the helmet. I’m going to get a humidity detector as well. If the humidity is within safe levels will I be fine?

 

[Milguy18]

I use beer glasses-Trappist. Never foam heads. And an ugly stand can be camouflaged.
Natural-unbleached thick cotton layers between the [sharp] edge of the glass and the liner.

Thank you for the advice on displaying. Using glasses is a really smart idea. Here’s some pictures of my pickelhaube

 

[coert65]

Thank you for the advice on displaying. Using glasses is a really smart idea. Here’s some pictures of my pickelhaube

I also use glasses for displaying my helmets. The nice thing about them, is they are fairly invisible, and, also you can find them in different height sizes. Find the right size, so the visors are about 3cm from the place where you put them for display. It makes them seemingly "floating on air".


It also prevents the stitching of the visors from stress, so the stitching is safe too. No more loose visors.

Regards, Coert.

 

[b.loree]

Once again copying my longtime friend T Schnurr, I use coffee cans to support my helmets. Tony painted his back in the day but I being less artistic and lazy just leave mine as is. My rationale is that most of the can is covered by the helmet so why bother?

 

[Jeff R]

Like Brian and Tony, I am Team Coffee Can. Perfect size, and distributes the weight well. I use black shelves, and make little black velvet sleeves for the cans. In the right light they look like they are floating.

And aside from the stitching damage mentioned above, the weight on the visors, especially for lighter construction officer helmets, can lead to sunken tops and droopy visors. You see this in very old collections sometimes, where the visors look like they've started to melt as the helmet sinks. Whether cans or glasses - all great advice in this thread!

 

[b.loree]

Hmmm…..maybe I should have painted/covered them. Yours look very cool Jeff !

 

[Naprawiacz]

I generally place my pickelhaube directly on the shelf without any additional protection. However, these helmets have been restored, and the leather structure has been reinforced, ensuring they will last another 100 years. Another trick is to place the item on a cover. The most important factor is low humidity and no direct sunlight. Most of you will be rubbing your eyes in surprise, but most of my collection is right next to a wood-burning fireplace for nine months of the year.

 

[Khukri]

Great collection Wojtek nicely displayed.

 

[michiel]

like others I also think you should prevent the haubes from resting on the visors to prevent sunken in tops and detached visors

I once saw display stand that I used as inspiration , and I made them at home from transparent polycarbonate plexiglass (tube and plates from which I produced circular discs with a hollow bur , by trimming the tubes at the desired length you got display stands at optimal height.

This worked for me as I had to fit my mutzen and haubes in shelfs and beer glasses did nog have the exact specific height.
so several heights according to type of headgear and display case als illustrated,
as I use glass shelves the transparent quality is nice
in our holiday home I also use belgian beer glasses for my smaller collection overthere
And it is a while that I produced them so also some glasses overhere...

Michiel

 

[poniatowski]

When I had a kiln at my disposal, I had a press mold for ceramic 'half heads'. They weren't fancy, just about 4mm thick clay, glazed and fired. Glaze is a form of glass, so they were great for helmets of all kinds. The one in the photo is for a tanker helmet. Cheap stands were used, but I also use glasses and other items that will work. I like to have my stands so the Pickelhaube's visor is about three millimeters above the surface. That way, I can lean it forward just enough to touch, but not rest. It keeps the visor trim from thinking it can slip a bit.... it all depends on the helmet.
Anyhoo, I NEVER use styrofoam heads, even (for me) with a barrier. I've seen styrofoam and foam rubber do too much damage to collections, which was thankfully in museums, not my home.
My two cents.
Cheers and welcome!

Ron