Leather visor unit

R

Robert

New member
I thought leather visors on felt helmets were rather loneley specimens. But on this unit picture all except two helmets are of this type.

nah1.jpg


gross2.jpg
 
Using my flashlight as a magnifyer, I think the shoulder flap reads "82". No writing on the back, regretably. The man on top, second from left seems to be injured and out of field service.
 
The ersatz war felt helmet should not be confused with the experimental spike helmet that was produced in the years 1903-1905. It was a regular leather 1895 model but it was - except for the front and rear visors - covered with feldgrau felt. It was therefore probably more costly to build than the regular 1895 model. Fittings were of course of white or yellow metal. I suppose that this is what we see on this picture. From a distance it can be mistaken for an ersatz helmet fitted with leather visors... I own a very nice example and I will send a picture if you wish. In fact this "experimental" Pickelhaube was produced in significant amounts and distributed to regular units. Mine is marked to JR135.
Bruno
 
Now that is awesome, I will never look at a photo of filz pickelhauben the same again ( I will be scrutinizing them more closely).

Thanks Bruno, never knew these even existed until this thread. Just one question, how many units were involved in the field testing of these filz/leder pickelhauben?

That's one of the great things about the Period Photographs section, you might find yourself heading in a different direction than originally intended. It all started with a photo. Thanks Robert, neat pic!

Geo
 
Hi Geo,
I cannot answer your question. Larcade briefly describes this model in 4 lines and one picture in his vol.1, p 109, saying that these helmets were re-used in 1914-1915. The same model is also to be seen in Johansson's book, p 59. erroneously described as an ersatz helmet.
Thank you for your interest,
Bruno
 
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