JR 73 Officer's Helmet

garlanj

garlanj

Active member
Back in April I purchased a rather sad looking JR73 officer’s helmet from a German dealer. The metalwork was ok but the shell looked like it had been used for a game of football (soccer) during the Christmas 1914 lull!
So, who did I call?
Brian
The haube whisperer has bought this soft shell back from the breach and with the brightwork back on it I must say I’m rather pleased.
Here’s a shot of how it started out…
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… and how it ended up
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Unbelievable.
On apersonal note Brian, I can't thank you enough, you are a genius =D>
 
Well gentlemen my thanks for the compliments, all I can say is that I just try my best. Cudos also to member Sandy for tracking down the 1876 shellac formula from Germany. This solved a lot of problems and I will be using it from now on.
 
Amazing work. Out of interest, either of you have any trouble with Customs (or on our side of the ocean, Customs and Royal Mail) with the helmet coming from overseas?
 
That's an excellent looking helmet, congratulations! =D>

Brian, that is truly fantastic restoration work, congratulations! =D>

A big thanks to Sandy for finding the original old formula for the finish! =D>

Best Regards,

Alan
 
snaffles: I did have to pay $34 in duty when the pkg. arrived. I can not speak to charges that may have been levied on return post to the UK. J did use a private courier to bring the helmet to CN and I have found that even with helmets sent from the USA no matter what the declared value is...duties are levied when sent by courier. Not so, with USPS or CN Post. Jeremy chose CN Post as the return carrier.
This refinish took approx 6 months and about 3 months in, Jeremy did have to put up with one whining email from me where I told him how much I hate refin work! :) Basically the entire helmet except for the front (wappen area) and visors had to be dealt with. The 1876 formula has all natural ingredients except for the aniline dye. It has the consistency of water so it takes a long time.....many, many coats to fill things in.
Some additional photos of the completed project:
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Jeremy had removed all fittings except the front visor trim before mailing.
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Both visors were also restitched.
 
One thing about this refinishing process has me thinking about something I do not understand.

When the Germans originally manufactured a helmet, would this exterior helmet finish process have taken many coats of finish combined with the drying process between what would seem to be dozens of layers of finish and drying being repeated?

I am in no way criticizing Brian for his process because that is what it takes with the two excellent formula recipes that he has successfully used in order to provide for an excellent restoration on many helmets.

The part I don't understand or have an answer to is: "Did the Germans originally use just one or two layers or coatings of the black color exterior finish product that they used, to place on the outside of the leather helmet shell or body, that dried quicker and used less coats of finish, possibly only one or two coats of finish on an original helmet when it was being manufactured?"

The reason I say this is because I can't wrap my mind around imagining the Germans using a finishing process on the exterior of the helmet shell that took possibly 6 months to complete an exterior finish on the shell of each helmet. Am I missing something in thinking this?

Best Regards,

Alan
 
Those close up shots look really great Brian, thanks for posting them!

You did another fantastic job on restoring the finish on this helmet, congratulations! =D> :bravo:

Best Wishes,

Alan
 
Thanks Brian. That’s very helpful. It seems to depend on who processes the parcel over here. Sometimes they do take note of the label stating the contents are antique or from WW1 (which should mean no customs charge and reduced VAT) but not always. Great work - you appear to be our nearest (only?) pickelhaube restorer!
Michael
 
Snaffles said:
Thanks Brian. That’s very helpful. It seems to depend on who processes the parcel over here. Sometimes they do take note of the label stating the contents are antique or from WW1 (which should mean no customs charge and reduced VAT) but not always. Great work - you appear to be our nearest (only?) pickelhaube restorer!
Michael
Click to expand...

I usually mark them as Vintage leather hat and it seams to work sometimes on the Custom charges.

James
 
I can only echo your questions Alan, I have no definitive answers. The spraying of paint and finishes was not invented until the 1880’s according to the internet. Prior to this our haube finish would have been brushed on, dried then polished. There is mention of using pumice as a polishing agent. I have noticed, that the finish on wartime helmets is thin and more like a paint. I agree, I can not see a haube manufacturing process involving repeated coats of finish.
The shells, without any fitting holes or side reinforcements would have been coated in finish to waterproof them and add rigidity. Next holes would be punched, liner stitched in etc. When you continually take these things apart as I do, you get to understand the assembly process.
As we see in original photos, the finish even on M15’s was patent leather shiny. What we have now with our helmets generally is 100+ years of cracking and dulling. When I apply the new finish today, it shines like we see in the photos. In order to make things blend in, old with new, I have to use 000 steel wool on the new and old areas and then polish the entire helmet with black shoe polish. This gives a common patina/colour to the entire helmet. I could apply finish to every surface, and achieve an 1895 look but this would look weird in 2020 and scream restoration! :(
 
When I sent it out to Brian I said it was a vintage helmet for restoration and got whacked for import duty. When Brian sent it back there was no duty :)
 
I usually write something similar to what James does. I also add "Old, used" and sometimes add "damaged" or "incomplete" depending on circumstance.

I like what Brian writes: "restoration work completed, returning item to sender".

When I send a helmet to him, I write something like: "Old used, damaged incomplete leather helmet for restitching work. To be returned to sender upon completion of work."

Best Regards,

Alan
 
Good to hear that you did not get hit with duty Jeremy! I really do think that much of it depends on what customs person reads the description. The USA-CN postal exchange works well, I have never lost a helmet on either side of the border....thank God! We always have that tracking number though...Always!
 
Coming into the US, anything that is an antique is exempt from duties. Use the term "antique" and specify over 100 yrs old and you should be good for US customs. ie "Antique leather helmet, circa 1900."
 
An outstanding result, Brian. The Helmet looks fantastic and I‘m very glad that the recipes work so good :bravo:

@Alan: Alan you are right, I‘m pretty sure that it is not „the“ original dye for the Pickelhaube, but they are original recipes for "Military Black". Because of so many manufacturers of Helmets, I guess there have been used many different recipes of dye. I think a dye just had to meet criterias which have been important for the Army. But I also think that these recipes I found are more accurate for a restoration than any modern formular :)
 
Thanks very much everyone for your responses to my question and for your suggestions. Good to hear that HM Customs didn’t charge Jeremy for the return of his own property! Apologies for slightly diverting this post away from the stars - an excellent Pickelhaube and fantastic restoration!
All the best,
Michael
 
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