New to Pickelhaube's (Seeking Advice)

J

Jeff B.

New member
Hello everyone, I am new to Pickelhaube collecting and require your assistance in verifying the authenticity of a few helmets I have the opportunity to purchase. I have read extensively online about the various characteristics found on pickelhaube's and feel confident about these examples. However, I figured it was best to consult with you good people and hear what you have to say.

I helmets are as follows:
M15 Bavarian (Looks to be in great condition)
Baden Artillery Officer (Damage to top of helmet, missing visor trim, loose chin scales and reversed kokarde)
Prussia Garde (Missing kokarde, missing visor trim)
Thanks in advance!
 
Jeff,

Welcome. You are doing the right thing. Another set of eyes is always helpful. There are some very senior guys on this site that can help you. Ultimately you make the decision but the input is free. I will restrict my comments to the Baden officer.

Wave off- too much damage. A better one will come along. Brian is the expert, but was no visor trim not for me. You also need a Baden officer's cockade. You would be looking for this for some time. While there are many opinions, Bruno and Karel seem always to go for high-quality. Easier to sell and explain.
 
Welcome Jeff, I would echo Joe's opinion. It is better not to buy pieces with problems and save yourself some grief. The only one of these that I would consider is the Bavarian M15, providing the liner is in good shape. If you buy it, I would also get it on a head form quickly because you can see the beginnings of the visor trim bending as the sides of the shell draw together. Missing visor trim is a particularly tough to replace....finding a piece that fits. These visors have shrunk and rippled along the edge. They would have to be taken off and reshaped, then restitched, I'd charge you $125 per visor to do that plus postage, plus the cost of trim, IF you find a piece that fits or can be cut to fit. So, I think you can see that it's better to spend your money on pieces with few problems, buy the best condition you can afford.
 
Thank you for the timely responses, it is much appreciated. These are the only photos I have at the moment however they have provided some important details for both you and I.
Truth be told, I had already written off the Garde helmet, and had my sights set on the Bavarian and Baden Officer. Moving forward, the Bavarian will be target.

Thanks again. Any other comments? I would love to hear what other collectors have to say.
 
The bavarian is indeed the best helmet to get. Unless the asking price of the other helmets is less then what the parts are worth, i wouldn't even consider buying those.


Greetings

Pickelhaube
 
one go for me would be bavarian one the rest won't even look at
to mutch parts missing and issues with it

jonas
 
First off, thanks to all who offered their advice. I really value your opinions. Unfortunately I did not make the purchase. I set my sights on the Bavarian as it was by far the best helmet (in terms of condition), but once the bidding got underway, I had to call it quits at a certain point.

The Bavarian sold for $850.00, the Baden Officer $950.00, the Prussian Garde $1200.00 and a 1905/06 Experimental Baden for $700.00.

All of these prices are in Canadian dollars and exclude the 10% Buyers Premium and 13% Sales Tax that would be added to the sale price.
 
Adding to what Brian mentioned about getting a deformed helmet onto a form, do NOT use a styro. wig head! Styrofoam is death to leather products and fake leathers. IF you need to use a wig head, put some sort of barrier between it and the helmet, such as a ph neutral fabric or even plastic (I've used Saran Wrap with good results). It's best to avoid styrofoam altogether.

:D Ron
 
Jeff B. said:
First off, thanks to all who offered their advice. I really value your opinions. Unfortunately I did not make the purchase. I set my sights on the Bavarian as it was by far the best helmet (in terms of condition), but once the bidding got underway, I had to call it quits at a certain point.

The Bavarian sold for $850.00, the Baden Officer $950.00, the Prussian Garde $1200.00 and a 1905/06 Experimental Baden for $700.00.

All of these prices are in Canadian dollars and exclude the 10% Buyers Premium and 13% Sales Tax that would be added to the sale price.
Click to expand...


You did well to stay out of that. [-(
 
The Canadian banks are now selling Uncle Sam's buck at $1.47 Cdn so that should give our American members an idea of the prices quoted......discount 47%. This is an excellent time for our American friends to come up to The Great White North and spend their cash either on a vacation or more importantly Militaria. Not so good for us Canucks going South though.
 
Here is another Pickelhaube that has been made available to me. An Prussian Ersatz with the distinctive "Rolled Edge". It is obviously missing the chinstrap and Reich Kokarde, but I figure these items can be replaced with relative ease (I can live with a repro chinstrap). After reading through some old posts and studying photos of other Ersatz examples, I have come to understand that there are many Ersatz "English Fakes" out there. I feel pretty confident about this one, but you never know....

This one looks decent to me. There is some staining on the front visor, some small cracks along the rolled edge and a relative degree of wear to the liner. The stitching for the liner and rolled edge is rather fine (not sure if this is correct). The wappen has a high degree of detail as well, but may have been polished at some point?. Everything points to this helmet as having a reasonable amount of wear for an original. Am I missing anything with this particular helmet? What do you good people think?

Thanks for looking!
 
Looks like a J. Bambus & Co. manufactured felt helmet with the rolled or folded edge. Look on the inside right or left side of leather liner to see if there is an embossed/stamped mark for this maker.

I can't quite tell from your photos if the front visor has a serious long tear/crack (or a repair) to one side of the front visor, or if it is just discoloration. When I click on the photos they don't become large enough for my old eyes.

The cracked edges do hurt the value of the helmet. Not sure what the asking price is for it. One of these sold in December on eBay USA for just under $400 and it was in nicer condition without the tears to the edge of the helmet, and the liner was nice, and it has two very nice national kokardes, (missing the Prussian kokarde). It has a funky looking odd chinstrap on it of the type I've never seen before. Pictures of it are in the thread on the "Unusual Chinstrap" that I've posted in this section. Unfortunately I didn't bid high enough on it to win it. The person that won it apparently swapped the spike out on it, and replaced a couple of brads on it with proper ones, and added the round support disk to the interior.

Looks like the stain or rust spots are from a previous field cover that used to be on the helmet, and the metal hooks that clipped over the edge of the helmet rusted and discolored the felt in the edge areas of the helmet where one would normally have seen the metal hooks from a field cover.

Helmet looks to be original, and the liner is the type you find in these J. Bambus made examples.

Best Regards,

Alan
 
Looking at the interior pic, I see 4 cracks in the edge of the helme, one in the rear visor, one at the side and 2 on the front visor. This problem is common in these filz helmes. I would also like to see a close up of the outside liner stitching. The rolled rim type like this are rarer than the others but condition is everything and you have to pay for it. In truth, each collector has to collect according to their budget and that is an individual's choice. Personally, I do not buy felt helmets with cracks in them, missing liners etc. I have 4 in my collection, one of which is a rolled rim Baden, they are all in great condition. As far as chin straps go....originals are selling for up to $250US on Ebay. That is way beyond what I can afford, however, I do put original kokarden on all my helmets.
 
Your comments have echoed what I have seen or thought based upon the information I have at this point. I am going to view the helmet this week to view it in person and study I more closely.
Regarding the "collectors budget", this helmet could possibly be the first Pickelhaube in my Militaria Collection. While I understand the value in buying the best, and would love to own a pristine example, I feel this helmet is priced fairly for what it is, and would be a decent "starting point" for my Pickelhaube collection.
I will know better when I look closer at it.
As always, you comments are greatly valued. Thank you.
 
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