I am a collector again! Prussian Fusilier M95!

Jaap Verduijn

Jaap Verduijn

New member
Whoopee! Yay! I am a collector again \:D/ ! Today Coert visited me, and we exchanged helmets: he received my Chasseur Adrian, and I was the recipient of a beautiful Prussian Fusilier's (FR33 or FR38 - I'll need ultraviolet light to make sure) Pickelhaube M95!!! To be frank, I firmly believe I have the best part of the deal, but to my great contentment Coert considers his part of the deal the best - so we finished up with the perfect transaction: both parties as happy as a pig in shit :D !

I really like such a situation: an exchange between two collectors that leaves both parties full of joy and excitement!

So here I am: only a short time ago I bought myself a replica because I thought I'd never have the real thing again and now, less than two months later, I do have a real one! I am a collector again... this is the first piece of my third collection :thumb up: \:D/ :D

Coert, it was a pleasure talking with you, exchanging anecdotes and information, sharing our love for our hobby! You know the way to my delapidated abode now: you're always welcome!

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Hi Jaap, it was a pleasure meeting you, and I'm happy to have seen the twinkle in your eyes viewing this old helmet! :D
It has sure seen better day's, but then again who doesn't.
I'm very happy with the Chasseur! :)
I had a great afternoon talking with you, and the way we exchanged helmets without getting our wallets out of our pockets.
Maybe you'll find some kokarden and a chinstrap for it, but the thing that matters to me is that you are happy with it.
Its all about collectors helping each other mate.

Enjoy, and we'll meet again!

Greeting's and a nice evening to you, Coert :thumb up:
 
Thanks Reg! Yes, this was the perfect situation! Coert lives less than two hours away from me, I had something he liked, he had something I liked, so the swap was inevitable :D ! I feel kinda sad for you though, but maybe sometime I'll encounter an object that will go your way! Take care, matey!
 
Excellent Jaap !! There is no way to keep a good man down despite what the gods and ex-wives may wish for! Congratulations on your new Pickelhaube. :thumb up:
 
Yes, it's good to be "back in the saddle"! Let's hope that this is the start of an undoubtedly modest but still very satisfactory third (and probably last) collection for yours truly :D ! I keep fondling my new Pickelhaube with an enthusiasm and a tenderness that I usually reserve for specific parts of the female anatomy, but believe me: after years and years of bravely coping with withdrawal symptoms of the most severe nature, I just can't help it :p

I think the helmet has a relatively rare Wappen, at least according to my fading memory of days long gone, when I only rarely encountered the pictured version with the overlapping breast feathers underneath the FR, like in a smaller size on tschapka's. I'm happy \:D/ : this is looking very good, and may be specific to (some) Fusiliers Regiments - with my bad eyes I can't read it but Coert, who's much younger than I am and has much better eyesight, informed me that the helmet is stamped either FR33 or FR38 - I might give it a try with a fluorescent lamp one of these days... if I can find such a contraption.

Yes, it's good to be back again! Whoopee! Yay (makes little dance of joy and promptly keels over on his semi-crippled legs :D )


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Hi Jaap, it's markings are on the left side of the hinterschirm, in a rectangular box,
I made it a bit wet, like I did with your M17 shell to show you the markings on it. It said ET64, which means Eisenhüttenwerk Thale, size 64.
But on your haube even my eagle eyes had to work hard! It's also has a number 1 stamped in it, also on the left side, near the rear spine, I don't know what that means..
Beside the FR33, or 38 I saw a date, 1908.

Greetings, Coert :thumb up:
 
I can't for the life of me read it, Coert - my eyes aren't what they were in my youthful years (sad grin). Under very good lighting I can faintly see a small part of what must be the outline of the rectangular box, and indeed something that looks like an 8 - probably part of the year 1908 you saw. The number 1 that's quite strongly stamped seems to have a fainter 1 to the immediate left of it - I think this refers to the "zweite Garnitur"("second garniture").

Joe writes about this on his excellent site http://www.pickelhauben.net" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; (Colonel J's): "(...) The helmet could be marked at this time with a roman numeral called a garniture mark. This indicated the "goodness" of the helmet. A good model would be marked with one Roman numeral and then further garniture marks would be added as inspections took place and the condition deteriorated. Grades were from I-V with I being the best. For most uniform parts the company had to keep three sets of each article on stock. The best set (erste Garnitur) was only issued for mobilization or parade and was recollected again after parade. Second set (zweite Garnitur) was the "better" service uniform and third set (dritte Garnitur) was the drill and exercise set. For spiked helmets there were only two sets. (...)"

Indeed I wetted the left side (seen from inside) of the Hinterschirm, but my saliva don't light the markings up the same way yours does :D ! So you "have been my eyes" - I trust yours better than I do mine (grin)! Maybe I'll find somebody with a fluorescent or ultraviolet lamp, which might enable us to see if it's FR33 or FR38. The latter would give me profound satisfaction, on account of that Fusiliers Regiment having fought on my old hunting grounds around Verdun.

I like the Wappen very much! It's very well detailed and sharp, beautifully preserved! Can you tell me some more about the "overlapping" feathers on the belly of the chicken? Indicating Fusiliers?

My ex just paid me a visit (she does that every week, we're still good friends), and she admired and praised the helmet too. And you know how critical women can be when it comes to our hobby :D

Take care, matey!

Jaap.
 
Hi Jaap,
I read something about these feathers years ago, but cannot find it anywhere....
But I will keep on searching for it, if I find it again I'll let you know.
Most of my Prussian ones have the Linienadler, I only have 1 with these type of feathers, but the helmet is private purchase and not marked, and the crown is voided, so Officer style, and fitted with screw posts, not the usual loops..

Maybe you should post the question also in the Wappen section here?
I know women can be very, very knitty-gritty about our type of hobby, #-o
2 years ago I had a girlfriend visit me, she said we'll meet again, but never saw her again,hahaha..
Probably scared off by my collection and a motorcycle in my livingroom. A motorcycle!! He must be totally bonkers she must have thought.

Have a nice evening, Coert :)
 
A motorcycle - grin! Coert, a dear lady friend of mine had, until recently, an Egyption sarcophagus in her living room - which was also an interesting conversation piece (grin)! Didn't discourage the blokes though - she looks like a supermodel which made them pretty quickly forget the coffin :D !

Much obliged if you could find stuff about the "overlapping feathers", but I know how it goes: one reads something, files it inside the brain, and the location of the written source is eventually forgotten. I know far too well: my own brain is kind of like the scattered contents of an overturned book case... lots and lots of unconnected scraps of knowledge which I can talk about with great zest, but don't ask me about details or where I got it from, because the only reply will be: "Eh... eh... sorry"!

Indeed, your example is clearly an officer's Wappen with the voided crown, while mine has the "filled in" crown and the regulation M1915 loops with leather wedges. I'll keep looking too, let's keep each other posted!

I'll give it a go in the appropriate section of this forum.

Enjoy your meal (if you haven't eaten yet), and hope to see you soon to "talk Haubes" again!

Fijne avond, Jaap.
 
You've just described my brain,or whats left of it, perfectly Jaap :D
I'll have to check my books also, like you I have a livingroom resembling a library with about 450 titles concerning WW1 alone......
I won't mention the rest of it scattered in my spare bedrooms.

I've already eaten, good oldfashioned dutch Hutspot, but thanks!

Ook jij een fijne avond,

Coert :thumb up:
 
Coert, I think I figured out the stuff on the Hinterschirm! I used a flashlight (zaklantaarn) with rather strong and very white LEDs and shone on the (spit-wetted) leather at a very acute angle. On the left (from the inside) half there's indeed 1908 [edit: nope - at closer look with even more light it's 1900] and probably FR38 (still not extremely well visible, but highly likely - more likely than 33). But... but... BUT... on the right side of the Schirm I found also a number: 38! This can, reasonably, only be the regimental number again. I don't know why it's there... I haven't yet been able to see whether there are some letters in front, but on that side there's definitely the number 38.

It's remarkable how (relatively) clear the lettering and numbering suddenly became under a different kind of light. If my ancient eyes could decipher it, how much more and clearer should you see it with your much younger eagle eyes! Next time when you're over here you should have a look!

I'm happy! My helmet has been on my well-known Verdun battlefields!
 
That's great news Jaap,

Congratulations :bravo:
I'm very happy that this helmet brings back your memory's of visiting the battlefields of Verdun, and was actually there!
I knew that under special lights it would be easier to read the markings, I only saw them using sunlight and playing around with the helmet,
so the light fell on it in different ways.
I also found this article on the net about FR38,

http://genwiki.genealogy.net/FR_38" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It might be of your interest.

Have a great day, greetings,

Coert, :bravo: :thumb up:
 
Good morning Coert! I had an even closer look after I had loaded up the battery of the flashlight to the max, and the year turned out to be 1900 - not 1908. This makes her even older than my house, which only dates back to 1903 :D !

For others who may be wrestling with illegibale markings and have, like myself, no access to an ultraviolet lamp: very white light from a LED torch/flashlight did the trick for me, in combination with some liberally applied saliva. But I guess most of y'all know this already. Anyway, for me it was the whiteness of the light (and possibly the very acute angle of its beam relative to the leather) that did the trick. The whiter the better - just like our immortal souls :p

Thanks for the article, Coert! Have a nice working day - as an old age pensioner I think I will mainly relax, do a few small things that aren't too tiring like writing a couple of emails, smoke several cigars, pet my cats... and after all these activities it will be evening and hence bed time again. Y'all see: it's a complicated and overloaded life over here :D
 
Congratulations Jaap, Im really happy to read about your comeback.
I was very touched by your story and although I don’t know you in real life, I do not begrudge the start of your new collection and wish you that it works much better for this time from the bottom of my heart \:D/
 
Thanks very much, Sandy, for your kind words! I don't think I learned much in my life, but one of the things that I did learn was that there's always a new beginning - usually at the exact moment that you think it will never be alright again :D ! So yes, this is the start of my third collection :thumb up:
 
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