Hi everyone,
First, the story...
My wife's great-grandfather was a stretcher-bearer in the Australian army and served in Europe during WWI. He brought home a Pickelhaube as a souvenir, which appears to have traversed a number of relatives over the years, and most recently my brother-in-law, who rediscovered it when cleaning out some old things a couple of months ago. My mother-in-law would like to see it restored to some of its former glory, so I have decided to take the project on as I have an interest in military history coming from a military family and having been in the army myself. Until a couple of weeks ago, all anyone knew was that it was "a Prussian helmet brought home from the war", but since I collected it yesterday to commence the project, I have been doing a bit of research and can see why this is more than just a hobby for some of you!
Second, the description - and some questions!
The Pickelhaube in question has definitely seen better days - I'm not sure how to post photos on here yet, but will try to put some up. From Kaiser's Bunker, I have identified it as an M1895/97. It is missing the chinstrap, two studs for the spike, the cockades and the waffen (all in brass), as well as the internal plate (not sure of its name) to secure the spike studs. I would like to return it to a simple Prussian enlisted man's helmet, so can anyone please validate the following?
1. Cockades - I assume I will need a 70mm M91 Reichs-Kokarde in red-white-black on the right side and a 70mm M91 Prussian black-white one on the right?
2. Waffen - This is the one I am most confused about - can someone please post a picture of the Waffen an enlisted Prussian soldier would have on his helmet?
3. Chinstrap - I assume they are black and the buckles and loops match the other brass components?
And a final question - can anyone point me to any discussions about reshaping/reforming as the helmet is quite buckled and this will hopefully be my first step in the restoration process.
Appreciate any help that you can give!
Thanks!
First, the story...
My wife's great-grandfather was a stretcher-bearer in the Australian army and served in Europe during WWI. He brought home a Pickelhaube as a souvenir, which appears to have traversed a number of relatives over the years, and most recently my brother-in-law, who rediscovered it when cleaning out some old things a couple of months ago. My mother-in-law would like to see it restored to some of its former glory, so I have decided to take the project on as I have an interest in military history coming from a military family and having been in the army myself. Until a couple of weeks ago, all anyone knew was that it was "a Prussian helmet brought home from the war", but since I collected it yesterday to commence the project, I have been doing a bit of research and can see why this is more than just a hobby for some of you!
Second, the description - and some questions!
The Pickelhaube in question has definitely seen better days - I'm not sure how to post photos on here yet, but will try to put some up. From Kaiser's Bunker, I have identified it as an M1895/97. It is missing the chinstrap, two studs for the spike, the cockades and the waffen (all in brass), as well as the internal plate (not sure of its name) to secure the spike studs. I would like to return it to a simple Prussian enlisted man's helmet, so can anyone please validate the following?
1. Cockades - I assume I will need a 70mm M91 Reichs-Kokarde in red-white-black on the right side and a 70mm M91 Prussian black-white one on the right?
2. Waffen - This is the one I am most confused about - can someone please post a picture of the Waffen an enlisted Prussian soldier would have on his helmet?
3. Chinstrap - I assume they are black and the buckles and loops match the other brass components?
And a final question - can anyone point me to any discussions about reshaping/reforming as the helmet is quite buckled and this will hopefully be my first step in the restoration process.
Appreciate any help that you can give!
Thanks!
Ron
Under the front visor, there appears to be some black markings, but I'm not sure if this is just the discolouring of the leather. The only markings I could find were under the liner on the inside of the helmet shell - in faded handwriting on one side, it says "Jungen" (or could be "Junger") and on the opposite side, it says "K. Jungen" (or "K. Junger").
