My very first Tschapka - Garde Ulan - grey steel fittings

B

bayonetcollector

New member
I must be a bit humble here... I am an experienced WWI collector and from the look and feel of it I am pretty certain that this one is original, but this is my very first and only Tschapka and I really know too little about them. So, to quote Manuel from Fawlty Towers: I know nothing! Hoping that the experienced collectors here can help fill in a few of the holes in my knowledge.

Here is the item in question, obviously a Mannschaften Tschako. It is in good condition, though With some wear to it. The liner appears to be tied still With the original drawstring which i am reluctant to mess With, so I have carefully lifted the liner to see if i could find a manufacturers mark/date, but if it is there I have missed it so far.

The mortarboard is not detachable, so not a model 1915, but the grey steel parts and chinstrap With steel fittings makes me lean towards possible 1915 Production.

It has a prussian Feldabzeichen and the state cockade. The wappen has the Garde star With the Suum Cuique motto. So a Garde Ulan helmet. Which regiment will this have belonged to? All info will be very welcome. :-)

http://skyttergrav.com/tschapka.html

(Could not figure out how to upload Pictures to this forum, so i put Pictures on my website)
 
Welcome to the forum!

I'm no expert on Tschapkas either and I'm sure others will offer better insights. To me, it's a nice looking helmet that may have been arsenal reworked from an earlier style helmet. Is the black under the visor also lacquered inside? If so, this may have been salvaged from another helmet?
Again, waiting for those who know these better to offer insights.

:D Ron
 
Fine Tschapka ! What are the measurments of the pavilion (square) ?

Garde Ulanen Regiment 1, 2 or 3

Before the 1915 (grey) GUR 1 and 3 had the "White/silver"" fittings. GUR 2 had the "Yellow/gold"

Francis
 
Very nice indeed, I see no problems with it whatsoever. Exceedingly nice to have it's original chin strap with matching grey fittings as well. :thumb up: From my restoration experience, the visor is a 3 piece construction....thin outer layer of finished leather a second thicker layer and then a thin black layer. On OR's this is black paper, on officer thin black leather both glued to the underside.
 
Thanks a lot. Now a novice question: Is this an earlier helmet that was reworked, as suggested earlier in this thread, or is this actually a variant that could have been made in 1915 With the M1915 fittings, though it is not an M1915 With the detachable steel top?It is all leather, non detachable top. I suppose that as there are tons of variants and transitional variants on many other types of German gear of that period, that could be the case here too?
 
bayonetcollector said:
Thanks a lot. Now a novice question: Is this an earlier helmet that was reworked, as suggested earlier in this thread, or is this actually a variant that could have been made in 1915 With the M1915 fittings, though it is not an M1915 With the detachable steel top?It is all leather, non detachable top. I suppose that as there are tons of variants and transitional variants on many other types of German gear of that period, that could be the case here too?
Click to expand...

I would guess that since the inner visor was normally black, that this wasn't reworked. I don't have any examples either, so don't know the proper color for the inner visor. It was just a thought.

:D Ron
 
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